On May 26, 2026, Chinese domestic intelligent off-road vehicle brand Jishi Automobile officially signed a strategic leasing agreement with the Abu Dhabi Khalifa Economic Zone. The enterprise will build a leading AI intelligent manufacturing center in the Middle East, covering an area of 10000 square meters. It is expected to be put into operation in the second half of the year and aims to achieve an annual production scale of 300000 vehicles by 2030.

Industry intensive in the Middle East

On May 17, 2026, Zhu Aixun, Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, led a large government and enterprise delegation to visit the China Arab Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park. More than 30 digital economy enterprises accompanying the delegation conducted on-site inspections of the Khalifa Economic Zone, demonstrating the positive trend of continuous warming of production capacity cooperation between Jiangsu and Abu Dhabi. On May 7th, Fosun International and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office reached a strategic cooperation, focusing on wealth management, fintech, high-end real estate, and medical innovation, accelerating the deepening of the Middle East market.

While domestic manufacturing, technology, and financial enterprises are flocking to the Middle East, the trillion dollar Middle East sovereign fund also continues to invest in the Chinese market. On May 8, 2026, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority released its A-share investment data for the first quarter, with a focus on increasing holdings of domestic high-end manufacturing leaders such as Luxshare Precision, Wanhua Chemical, BOE A, and Sany Heavy Industry. The total market value of A-share holdings reached 19.524 billion yuan. This series of cooperation is not a scattered single cooperation, but a clear industry trend: Chinese companies are joining forces to enter Abu Dhabi, covering multiple fields such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, financial technology, sovereign investment, etc., and the breadth and depth of cooperation continue to break through.

The New Energy Corps sets sail

The landing of Jishi Automobile in the Khalifa Economic Zone this time is not a simple relocation of production capacity. Zhao Song, President of Jishi Middle East Company, stated that the company will focus on long-term development, take the economic zone as its core base, deeply cultivate research and development of new energy vehicles and artificial intelligence, and improve the overseas industrial ecology. Mohammed Hadar Ahmed, CEO of Khalifa Economic Zone, stated that China's mature intelligent manufacturing capabilities, combined with the excellent location advantages of the park, will help both sides explore markets in the Middle East, Africa, and even globally.

Before entering the market, BYD had officially announced a $1 billion investment in the United Arab Emirates to build an electric vehicle factory with an annual output of 150000 vehicles. CATL also teamed up with the UAE sovereign fund to build a lithium battery super factory. Now that Jishi Automobile has made a strong entry, it marks that China's new energy vehicles have gone global to the Middle East, shifting from individual enterprises to cluster and scale collaborative layout.

Two way cooperation forms a closed loop

Recently, several Jiangsu enterprises have concentrated in the Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi, with an initial investment of 300 million US dollars, focusing on the three core areas of clean energy, minerals, and high technology, and obtaining long-term land leasing rights for 50 years. The government enterprise inspection activity on May 17, 2026 further solidified the foundation of production capacity cooperation between Jiangsu and Abu Dhabi. Khalifa Industrial Zone has outstanding policy advantages, with settled enterprises enjoying favorable policies such as tariff exemption, zero corporate tax, 100% foreign ownership, and 50 year land leasing. It also provides support and subsidies for clean energy and high-tech projects, ranking among the top in the Middle East region. The China Arab Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park, located within the park and planned and constructed by Jiangsu Province, is the core carrier for Chinese enterprises to deeply cultivate the Middle East market.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority increased its holdings in the first quarter by targeting high-quality domestic leaders in high-end manufacturing and technology fields, with the core logic of heavily investing in China's high-quality industrial chain. Data shows that in the first quarter of 2026, China's exports to the United Arab Emirates surged by 36.3% year-on-year. Middle Eastern capital heavily invests in Chinese industries, and Chinese companies establish factories in the Middle East, empowering both industry and capital in a mutually beneficial manner, forming a stable new pattern of cooperation.

Stable policy dividends and financial support are the core advantages of cooperation between both parties. The exclusive preferential policies of Khalifa Industrial Zone provide strong support for the development of science and technology innovation and new energy enterprises, significantly reducing the operating costs of enterprises going abroad, and forming a closed-loop model of two-way linkage between capital and industry. The UAE sovereign fund invests in China's high-end industries, and Chinese companies land physical projects in the local area, building a mutually beneficial and mutually empowering cooperation ecosystem. The development model of Chinese overseas enterprises has also achieved iterative upgrading. In the past, Chinese enterprises mainly relied on trade orders, but now they have transformed into a new model of deepening local cultivation, establishing production capacity, and building an ecosystem, truly building the UAE as an overseas core market. Keywords: New Energy, Abu Dhabi, Industry Going Global

From the landing of Jishi Automotive Intelligent Factory and the establishment of Jiangsu enterprise clusters, to Fosun's diversified layout and Middle Eastern capital's heavy holdings in A-shares, Chinese industries are deeply integrated into Abu Dhabi's development system. Against the backdrop of global supply chain restructuring, Abu Dhabi has become an important hub for Chinese manufacturing to radiate to the Middle East, Africa, and European markets, injecting lasting momentum into deep cooperation between China and Arab countries.Editor/Gong Ziwei