Canon to boost China investment

Japanese camera maker Canon Inc will increase its investment in China, accelerate localization efforts through strengthening cooperation with Chinese partners in the fields of big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence and introduce more state-of-the-art imaging products, technologies and standards to various industries.

"China has become one of our most important markets around the world, and we attach great importance to our development in China. Although the Chinese economy is relatively slowing down, it is still a fast-growing market worldwide," said Howard Ozawa, executive vice-president of Canon.

Ozawa said the Chinese market, which shows huge growth potential, contributed the most in sales among all countries and regions in Asia. For instance, the sales of digital cameras in China topped the list across the globe in the first six months this year. "The whole Asian market, especially China, has become an important engine to drive Canon's cameras business growth globally," Ozawa said.

Canon will launch new companies in China and improve and strengthen its businesses spanning from research and development to production, sales and services, Ozawa added.

The company also saw huge development opportunities in medical equipment under the guidance of the Healthy China 2030 Initiative, which aims to boost the healthcare services market to reach 16 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion) by 2030.

Industry statistics showed the revenue of medical equipment in China amounted to 530.4 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 19.86 percent year-on-year. In 2020, the market size is expected to reach 760 billion yuan.