Key facts
- About 320 Japanese companies exhibited at the ninth China International Import Expo, roughly the same scale as a year earlier, per Record China.
- Panasonic plans to spend about 2.2 billion yuan across its Suzhou and Guangzhou sites to double global capacity for high-speed circuit-board materials by 2030.
- Hitachi signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Chinese battery and storage maker Jiangsu Zenergy at the expo.
- Toyota plans to start operations at a new Lexus plant in Shanghai's Jinshan district in autumn 2027, its first dedicated Lexus plant built from scratch.
- Toyota raised the number of Chinese chief engineers on its China development team to 7 from 4, per Record China.
Japanese multinationals used the ninth China International Import Expo in Shanghai, which opened on November 5, 2026, to restate their commitment to China, even as a diplomatic rift between Tokyo and Beijing persists a year after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks in parliament on Taiwan.
About 320 Japanese companies exhibited at the expo, roughly the same scale as a year earlier, according to the Chinese-language outlet Record China. Panasonic, Kao, Hitachi, Omron and Toyota were among those that have attended all nine editions, the outlet reported.
Panasonic plans to invest about 2.2 billion yuan across its Suzhou and Guangzhou sites to double global production capacity for high-speed circuit-board materials used in AI servers by 2030, Record China reported. Hitachi signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Chinese battery and storage maker Jiangsu Zenergy covering digital energy, green manufacturing, research and quality control, global market expansion and standardization.
Toyota said at the expo that main buildings at a new Lexus plant under construction in Shanghai's Jinshan district had topped out about a year and a half after the project was announced in February 2025, with operations planned for autumn 2027. The plant, Lexus's first dedicated factory built from scratch, will produce electric vehicles and batteries. Toyota also consolidated its China research and development functions, moved model planning decisions to China and raised the number of Chinese chief engineers to 7 from 4, per Record China.
Hitachi's China research institute is working with Hitachi Elevator and Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTECH on applying humanoid robots in elevator manufacturing, the outlet reported. Kao China chairman Zhu An said China is one of the group's most important overseas markets and a key innovation base, with decision-making for some brands shifting to China.