ABB eyes expanding its footprints in China

With China accelerating the pace of "new infrastructure" and urbanization projects to bolster its economic growth, ABB Group, the Swiss technology company, plans to seize more market share as the demand for smart building and power facilities have notably surged in recent years, said a senior executive in China.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to city and business management across China, the application of big data, artificial intelligence, 5G and other technologies in combating the pandemic allows the country to draw on the potential of digitalization and intelligent technologies in managing cities and business growth, said Roy Yang, ABB's marketing and sales manager for smart buildings and smart power divisions in China.

Traditional urban infrastructure entails supply of, and demand for, public services, and the development for smart buildings is about to change that system, supporting cities to make a quick and efficient response to requirements via data information, so as to ensure the sustainable growth.

As buildings account for a large amount of energy consumption globally, and an essential part of a city, he noted the intelligence of buildings and infrastructure facilities is the key to developing future cities in China.

Eager to enrich its earning strength, ABB will introduce its next generation smart home products in China in the four quarter of this year.

Apart from providing equipment and customized services for domestic companies and major sport events such as Heilongjiang province-based-Zijin Copper Co Ltd, Shandong Guoshun Group and winter sports stadiums in Beijing and Zhangjiakou to optimize power usage and save operational cost, Yang said the company will deploy more resources into energy storage industry, data centers and charging facilities for electric vehicles in the coming years.

The executive reiterated that there are big opportunities from China's east-data-west-computing project, and ABB is committed to providing affordable green solutions to help local telecom operators and internet companies better store data.

The east-data-west-computing project refers to sending data gathered from the more prosperous eastern regions of China to the less developed but resource-rich western regions for storage, calculation and feedback, which can help the country improve its imbalance in the layout of digital infrastructure and maximize the value of data as a production element.

The growth of big data centers will drive investment in upstream and downstream industries such as the research, development and manufacturing of information technologies (and related products), telecom networks and energy, said Sun Fuquan, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development in Beijing.

Supported by a well-developed supply chain in China, ABB's Yang said the company exports products manufactured from its plants in China to more than 60 countries and region.

It also partners with Chinese companies to carry out EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) projects in overseas markets, especially in economies related to the Belt and Road Initiative.