Early 2026 data showed China's overall utilized foreign direct investment (FDI) falling 5.7% year-on-year. For most foreign institutions, this was yet another piece of evidence for the "capital exodus" narrative. But the very next line of the same report told a completely different story: FDI into high-tech industries surged 20.3% over the same period, and when extended to the first four months of the year, actual foreign investment in R&D and design services jumped by as much as 108.4%.
