Innovative culture

A man registers at the Shangri-La Hotel in Chengdu, Sichuan province for the Fortune Global Forum on June 5 2013. [Feng Yongbin / China Daily]

Chengdu received a big amount of foreign investments. This is mainly attributable to the fact its abundance of higher education institutions and research organizations have created an innovative culture that attracted many high-tech companies, Yao said.

Yao's comments are echoed by Sun Laixiang, professor of Chinese business and management at the School of Oriental and African Studies, who added that Chengdu's abundance of migrant workers from surrounding rural areas also make it an attractive investment spot.

"There is a large supply of cheaper and hardworking labor from the countryside around Chengdu that used to go to coastal cities for work, but they are happily finding work in Chengdu now that industries are shifting inland," Sun said.

Sun said that the city has an advantage in high-end manufacturing industries like automotive, aerospace, home appliance manufacturing and information communication technology.

Intel, the world's largest chip manufacturer, has invested a total of $600 million in Chengdu since 2003. Other high-tech multinationals with investment in the city include Nokia, Sony, Toyota, Motorola, Microsoft, Ericsson and Volkswagen.

Sun said that the city government's open-minded and welcoming approach to foreign investment has helped it draw multinationals.

Another factor that makes Chengdu appealing to high-tech industries is its historical advantage in manufacturing, which is the legacy of China's "third-front construction", Sun said.