Zeiss, the German optical giant who entered the Chinese market 65 years ago, is breaking ground on a new factory in Suzhou, China. The factory will be Zeiss’s first self-built factory in China, which marks the company’s confidence in the market as it deepens its roots.

The Suzhou factory, with a total investment of $25 million (approximately RMB 181 million), will incorporate the microscopy division's B&C global product center, including product management, R&D, production and global distribution, as well as part of the industrial measurement division's global production base and the Greater China customer and solutions center.

In addition, Zeiss' Medical Division will also add the production of Class II medical devices, such as operating microscopes and ophthalmic diagnostics, as well as expand the global procurement business of Zeiss' headquarters and divisions. In the future, the new site will also introduce other business segments of the Group, according to IT ZhiJia.

In China, Zeiss is headquartered in Shanghai, and has established the first enterprise-level innovation center of the Group outside Germany in Pudong, Shanghai. Since 2021, China has become Zeiss' largest single market in the world, as well as one of the fastest growing one.

Currently, China accounts for 16% of Zeiss’s global income. In the past 12 years, the company’s revenue in the market grew 20 times, according to Maximilian Foerst, Zeiss' president of China.

"The completion of the new project will help Zeiss build a more resilient and sustainable industrial ecosystem in the Yangtze River Delta region. In the future, Zeiss will continue to increase its investment in the Chinese market, further deepen its localized innovation strategy, and help upgrade 'Made in China' and the high-quality development of the big health industry,” says Foerst.

Zeiss is one of many German enterprises betting on China. The automaker Volkswagen previously announced a $2 billion joint venture with Chinese tech company Horizon Robotics, and the BMW group is investing 10 billion yuan for battery production in China and shifting its electric Mini production from the UK to China.