Hurun Largest Foreign & HK/Macau/Taiwan Companies in China 2024

HURUN RESEARCH INSTITUTE TODAY RELEASED THE HURUN LARGEST FOREIGN & HK/MACAU/TAIWAN COMPANIES IN CHINA 2024

- IN SEARCH OF THOSE COMPANIES WHICH MADE THE BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO THE CHINESE ECONOMY

HON HAI TOPPED THE LIST AGAIN WITH SALES OF CNY1.1TN IN CHINA AND 450,000 EMPLOYEES

VOLKSWAGEN SECOND WITH SALES OF CNY780BN

SAMSUNG BROKE INTO TOP THREE

BY COUNTRY. USA LED WITH 57 COMPANIES, FOLLOWED BY JAPAN (28), GERMANY (24), FRANCE (16) AND THE UK (15). 70% FROM JUST FIVE COUNTRIES.

BY CONTINENT. EUROPEAN COMPANIES LED WITH 89, 63 FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION

BY SECTOR. INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT AND AUTOMOTIVES LED WITH 38 AND 37, FOLLOWED BY CONSUMER GOODS AND HEALTHCARE. TOP FOUR INDUSTRIES MADE UP 60% OF THE HURUN TOP 200

35 NEW COMPANIES ENTERED TOP 100, INCLUDING 16 FROM ASIA, INCLUDING 6 FROM TAIWAN, 4 FROM JAPAN, 3 FROM SOUTH KOREA, AND 1 EACH FROM SAUDI ARABIA, SINGAPORE AND INDONESIA.

(13 January 2025, Shenzhen’s Futian District) The Hurun Research Institute today released the Hurun Largest Foreign & HK/Macau/Taiwan Companies in China 2024, a list of the 200 foreign & HK/Macao/Taiwan companies with the greatest contribution to China's economy, based on their sales and the number of employees in China. This is the third year of the list and is the first year the list expanded to 200, up from 100 companies in the first two lists.

Between them, the 200 Hurun Largest Foreign & HK/Macao/Taiwan Companies in China had sales of CNY10tn in China in 2023, equivalent to 8% of China's annual GDP, with an average annual sales of CNY50bn per company. These companies employ more than 3.5 million employees in the mainland of China, with an average of 18,000 employees per company. The average age of the Hurun Top 200 was 104 years, with 51 years of history in China.

Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said:

“In this period of geopolitical uncertainties and with Trump’s second presidency coming up, it is worth remembering how foreign companies have made significant contributions to China's economy.”

“Some twenty of the Hurun Top 200 enjoyed sales of over CNY 100bn in China, led by Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision, and followed by Volkswagen and Apple. Others with significant sales in China include well-known auto makers BMW, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, as well as technology giant Samsung, Jinlongyu's parent company Wilmar International, SK Group, CP Group, luxury goods company LVMH and Tesla.”

“On average, China sales of the Hurun Top 200 accounted for 15% of their total global sales. For some companies like Chow Tai Fook, Hon Hai Precision, TDK, Wilmar International, Swire Pacific and Delta, China made up over half their global sales. Apple's sales in China accounted for 17% of its total global sales.”

“The Hurun Top 200 have been operating in China for 51 years on average, much longer than many people might have expected, meaning that they came to China in 1973 on average. 30 of them have been in China for over 100 years, including the likes of Siemens, BASF, Swires, HSBC, Jardines, Standard Chartered, Bayer, etc…”

“The Hurun Top 200 with the shortest history in China include petrochemical and fuel company LyondellBasell, Tesla and Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.”

“In China, great changes have taken place in the field of foreign-funded enterprises in the past two years, including the automotive industry. The automobile industry was once the largest industry for foreign investment in China. With the rise of Chinese local automobile enterprises, they have brought unprecedented fierce competition and challenges to European, American, Japanese and Korean automobile manufacturers. The sales performance of Honda, Toyota, General Motors and Ford in mainland of China has declined more, while Nissan, Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen have laid off more employees. The consumer goods industry is also affected by the competition of local enterprises, with the performance of Unilever and P&G down, and Apple's sales declining due to the rise of local brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi.”

“Surprisingly, the total number of European companies on the list is 1.5 times that of American companies. Europe has the largest number of companies in the Top 200, totaling 89, of which 63 are from the European Union, 15 from the UK and 11 from Switzerland. There are 57 American enterprises. The number of companies from Southeast Asia is smaller than many people think, with only three, one each in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. Interestingly, almost all of these foreign-funded enterprises come from Europe, USA, Japan and South Korea, and none came from South America, Africa, Oceania, Central Asia and Russia.”

“The contribution of the Hurun Top 200 to China's economy may well be underestimated, partly because most financial statements only break out direct sales in China, but do not include their exports to the rest of the world. Also, we have not taken into account the impact of these Hurun Top 200 on upstream and downstream supply chains. Take Apple, for example, its sales in China are close to CNY500bn, but the contribution its global supply chain and peripheral products to China's economy can not be ignored.”

“About 40% of the Hurun Top 200 are well-known brands selling directly to consumers, including Volkswagen, Apple, BMW, Tesla, Wal-Mart, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Jinlongyu and Estee Lauder, all of which are well known to Chinese consumers. The remaining 60% are the ‘hidden heroes’, namely B2B enterprises, such as Hon Hai Precision, Robert Bosch, the world's leading automotive parts supplier and Qualcomm, which has operated in China for more than 20 years and established the world's first innovation center in Shenzhen.”

“The best way to assess the contribution of foreign-funded enterprises to China's economy may be through taxes paid, but enterprises do not disclose this information, so instead our list is based on sales and number of employees. Sales make up 70% of our score, whilst number of employees make up 30%. To make the cut, you needed to have annual sales of about CNY8bn and more than 1000 employees in China. Companies that export large volumes to China but that don’t have large operations in China itself, such as BHP, Rio Tinto or Trafigura, or some of the chip manufacturers, such as Broadcom, Nvidia, ASML, are not included in our list.

Top 10

By Industry

Where do they come from?

The Top 200 companies come from 21 different countries or regions.

63 were from the European Union, including 24 from Germany, 16 from France, 7 from Sweden, 5 from the Netherlands, 4 from Denmark, 3 from Finland, 2 from Ireland, and 1 each from Belgium and Spain.

Three are from Southeast Asia, including one each from Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.

36 from Japan and South Korea, including 28 from Japan and 8 from South Korea.

1 from the Gulf region, namely Saudi Arabia.

147 from the West, including 57 from the USA, 24 from Germany, 16 from France, 15 from the UK and 11 from Switzerland.

3 are from the Global South, including 1 each from Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Where are their China headquarters?

The China headquarters of the Top 200 companies are mainly concentrated in Shanghai (62%) and Beijing (24%).

New to the list

A total of 35 new enterprises ranked among the Top 100, of which 16 were Asian enterprises, including 6 in Taiwan, 4 in Japan, 3 in South Korea, and 1 in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Indonesia.

History with China

The Top 200 enterprises entered the Chinese market in 1973 on average, with an average operating life of 51 years in China. Among them, 30 enterprises have been operating in China for more than 100 years, while 10 are new forces entering the Chinese market in the past 20 years.

When were the Top 200 first established?

Companies with the largest sales

Companies with the most employees

Hurun Largest Foreign & HK/Macau/Taiwan Companies in China 2024

About Hurun Inc.

Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research

Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai

Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2023, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Best-known for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key series focus on young businesses and entrepreneurs, through the Hurun Unicorns Index, two Hurun Future Unicorns indices, the Hurun Uth series and the Hurun Pioneers series.

Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.

The Hurun Pioneering Young Startups and Entrepreneurs series focuses on startups set up within the last ten years and founders aged 45 or under.

The Hurun Uth series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively.

Other lists include the Hurun 500 series, ranking the most valuable companies in the world, China and India, the Hurun Global High Schools List, ranking the world’s best independent high schools, the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists and the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today.

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