Over the past ten years, China has invested nearly 60 billion dollars in Brazil. The focus of Chinese capital, however, has shifted constantly throughout this period. In this regard, it is possible to divide the investments into five main waves.
First wave: up to 2010, characterized by investments in raw materials such as iron ore and oil. Example: the purchase of 40 percent of Spanish company Repsol's Brazilian operations for 1.7 billion dollars in 2010.
Second wave: from 2010 to 2013, the Chinese began investing primarily in capital goods and consumer goods. Example: the announcement of the first factory of automaker Chery in Brazil, a 500-million-dollar investment.
Third wave: between 2013 and 2014, marked by investments in financial services. Example: the purchase of 72 percent of BicBanco by China Construction Bank for 1.6 billion reais in 2013.
Fourth wave: from 2014 to 2018, the Chinese invested in infrastructure. Example: the purchase of 54.6 percent of CPFL Energia by State Grid, the world's largest electricity company, for 14 billion reais in 2017.
Fifth wave: from 2018 to the present, with the Chinese focusing on digital startups. Example: the acquisition of 99 by Didi Chuxing for 600 million dollars in January 2018.
In addition to demonstrating China's strategic shift, the latest investment wave confirms the growing maturity of Brazil's innovation and startup market. Beyond the 99 example, Nubank and Stone received contributions from Tencent and Alibaba, respectively.
In other words, three Brazilian unicorns had Chinese money as their growth engine
The interest from China's largest technology companies continues to grow. Huawei, for example, revealed plans to implement 5G in the country and will invest 800 million dollars in a factory in São Paulo. These moves confirm that infrastructure investment remains on the agenda for the Chinese.
Alibaba, in turn, opened an experience store in Curitiba, focused on the Brazilian digital consumer. ByteDance, owner of the TikTok app, is another example of a company that sees the Brazilian market as a global priority, as does Kwai, its direct competitor that reached the top of the app stores here.
We Brazilians should expect an increasingly direct impact from Chinese money in our lives. Both national infrastructure and the consumer-focused innovation market are leveraging capital from the East's greatest power to drive development.
It remains to be seen how dependence on Chinese investment will hold up in the future, especially if relations between the Americans and the Chinese — both Brazilian allies — deteriorate further.
Artificial intelligence text on the subject:
“China's new wave of investments in Brazil is partially offset by the growing trend of expatriates moving to the country, particularly in the technology sector, as these workers have become the primary driver of global growth.
China's technology boom will create 4 billion direct jobs by 2022, according to a Bloomberg estimate, and a similar number of indirect jobs.
In China, it is a “disaster” if a person does not have their parents working as a nurse, according to Sun Wei, executive director of the Chinese Association of Nurses and Parents. “The trend is very positive,” Sun said by phone from Shanghai on Thursday. “It is very important for families to be involved in caring for their elderly parents.”
The problem, however, is that many of the jobs created require little or no healthcare skills and therefore cannot support a large family, Sun said, echoing the sentiments of the “Boomer Baby: Living from China's Chamber of Commerce”. Longer and Better Campaign”.
Human comment: It started well, AI. But it lost the thread from the third paragraph onward.