Yantai, a coastal city in East China's Shandong province, has attracted investment from 103 Fortune Global 500 companies over the years, according to a recent announcement by the commerce department of Yantai.

A total of 326 projects have been launched, including 199 domestically funded projects with 43.09 billion yuan ($6.24 billion) in contractual capital utilized outside the city, and 127 foreign-funded projects with $5.75 billion in contractual utilization of foreign capital.

There are two projects in the primary industry, 151 projects in the secondary industry, and 167 projects in the tertiary industry. Investment in the secondary and tertiary industries has developed evenly, and the proportion of investment in the tertiary industry is increasing.

Among the 103 Fortune Global 500 companies, 59 are domestic companies based in cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen. Most of the overseas Fortune 500 companies are based in Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Europe. Among them, 22 are Japanese and South Korean companies, accounting for 21.3 percent of the total.

Around 58 of Fortune 500 companies have also reinvested in search of further development. Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co has increased capital in Yantai 13 times since 2004, while Hong Kong’s China Merchants Group has initiated development on eight projects since 1996. The Delphi Co from the United States has launched three new projects since 2005.

In July 1987, the American Loctite Corporation, owned by German company Henkel, and the Yantai Machinery Industry Research Institute established a joint venture, Henkel Loctite (China) Co, with an investment of $12 million, including $6 million in foreign capital. It is the city’s first joint venture invested by a Fortune Global 500 company.

Since then, a number of Fortune 500 companies, including ITOCHU Corporation, Mitsubishi Group, LG Group, Electricite De France, and Wilmar International, have unleashed a wave of investment and set up numerous factories in Yantai.

In recent years, Yantai has realized that opening up is important for economic development and structural transformation.

It has issued guidelines on five major industries, including the manufacturing and service industries, as well as on eight public services, including culture, education, and elderly services.

Fortune 500 companies are considered important partners, and the city has attracted a number of well-known transnational corporations in recent years, contributing to the launch of several major cooperative projects and accelerating the pace of project negotiations with Microsoft, Siemens, and other Fortune 500 companies.