Sweden-based Atlas Copco hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its R&D base on Nov 30 in Wuxi National Hi-Tech District (WND), Jiangsu province.

The compressor R&D base project is the third high-end manufacturing foreign capital project won by Wuxi in 2015, adding to a polarized film project worth $340 million from Samsung SDI and a semiconductor project worth $300 million from Infineon Technologies AG.

Atlas Copco, a world-leading provider of productivity solutions serving customers with innovative industrial products, has established three subsidiaries in the district since its first settlement in 1994.

Wuxi has already developed into the group's key manufacturing base on the Chinese mainland. Atlas Copco's second branch, expanded in 2012, has already developed into the company's global manufacturing center for industrial compressors and architecture construction, boasting two factories of sustainable production.

The R&D center will help to realize the company's designation of WND, a comprehensive production base for compressor development from R&D to lab experiments and mass production.

Hong Yanwei, high-level official of WND, met with Atlas Copco's representatives during the groundbreaking ceremony. Wei praised Atlas Copco's support for WND's high-end equipment manufacturing industry in recent years. He pledged to provide continuous support and to create a sound industrial environment for the further expansion of Atlas Copco's investments in the district.

Francis Liekens, Atlas Copco general manager for Southeast Asia Pte Ltd, also introduced the company's future intentions to cooperate with WND for its Industrial Air Division.