Zeiss, a leading global supplier of optics and optoelectronics, started construction of a new R&D and production base in Suzhou, eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, on October 18.

This is the first time for Zeiss to purchase land and build its own project in the country, indicating the firm’s further deepening of business in the region, reported Pandaily on October 20.

In November last year, Zeiss signed a contract with local regulators in Suzhou Industrial Park to invest in setting up a new R&D and production base. With a total investment of $25 million, the new base will be introduced into the B&C global product center of the microscope division, some global production projects of an industrial measurement division, and the customer and solutions center of Greater China.

In addition, Zeiss’ medical division will add the production of Class II medical equipment, such as surgical microscope and ophthalmic diagnosis. The global procurement business of the Zeiss headquarters and various divisions will be expanded. In the future, the new base will introduce other business sectors of the group one after another, said the Pandaily report.

At present, Zeiss’ business scope covers semiconductor manufacturing technology, medical technology, industrial quality and research, and optical products. 2022 is the 65th year since Zeiss first entered the Chinese market. In the past few years, it has achieved a compound annual growth rate of nearly 20% in China. Today, China has become its largest strategic market in the world.

Zeiss has two major production bases in China – one around Shanghai and Suzhou in the Yangtze River Delta, which mainly produces equipment, and the other in Guangzhou, which produces lenses, including the newly established production base of intraocular lenses, said the Pandaily report.

Zeiss became a strategic partner of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo in December 2020. Among the three generations of Vivo phone models that have cooperated with Zeiss in the past two years, images have become the symbol of the most market recognition and competitiveness.