Aerial view of the expansive Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone in Northeast China's Jilin Province.

A short drive from downtown Changchun, the capital city of Northeast China's Jilin Province, is the Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone, where Evonik High Performance Material (Changchun) Co is located.

Despite its modest appearance, Evonik manufactures an advanced material integral to many modern high-tech industries.

On a recent visit, the Global Times saw inside the plant a newly produced pallet of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) that has been packed and loaded. 

Not long, these high-performance materials, standing at the very top of the pyramid of plastic materials, will be transported by cargo planes or China-Europe freight cargo trains to merge with the global production and supply chains, making China's contribution to the development of global high-tech industries.

PEEK is a high-performance polymer. Given its outstanding quality, the hydrolysis-resistant material is used in many applications, including consumer electronics, implantable devices, and more.

Bu Yonggang, general manager of Evonik High Performance Material (Jilin Changchun) Co, told the Global Times that PEEK ranks among the top high-performance materials used in modern industries, typically in manufacturing automobile engines, nuclear power plants, and offshore rigs.

Pointing to a demonstration of a spinal cage, Bu said that when combined with 3D printing technology, PEEK's value for medical applications is immense, offering advantages over metal implants to the human body, as a spinal cage made by PEEK has tiny holes where human bone cells grow, helping the implant connect better with human bones.

New materal screw made by Evonik High Performance Material (Jilin Changchun) Co. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

Technological expertise 

During China's decades of reform and opening-up, foreign companies have often entailed exchanges of foreign technological expertise for Chinese market share, as is the case for Volkswagen, which has a large-scale joint venture production facility with FAW Group in Changchun city. 

The story with Evonik High Performance Material (Changchun) Co is different - it is a fusion of Chinese technological expertise and foreign market reach. It is rooted in the robust scientific research capabilities enjoyed by China's northeastern provinces.

Bu said that, decades ago, there were two leading methods for PEEK production, one developed by British chemical giant Imperial Chemical Industries and the other pioneered by Jilin University in Changchun.

After careful deliberation, Evonik, a leading German specialty chemical company with over 170 years of history, decided to invest in Changchun in 2004 after discovering that Jilin University's PEEK outperformed its existing materials. This decision ushered in decades of mutually beneficial cooperation.

"Our collaboration is one of China's pioneering examples of the kind, between a university and a foreign company, a partnership in which the Chinese side developed high-tech materials, while the German company leveraged its sales, marketing, project management experience, and capital resources," Bu said. "Within 20 years, we have turned a technology package out of a university lab into a commercial success."

Bu said the success is attributed to China's robust supply chain advantages as well as the entrepreneurial vigor of Chinese partners, resulting in faster implementation of new projects.

"During those pandemic years and even with US-imposed additional tariffs in place, we never lost one kilogram of order from our customers in the US," Bu said.

With global economies pivoting toward high-tech growth, innovative materials like PEEK have become indicators of technological advancement.

To highlight the importance of the new materials, the 7th China International Import Expo, one of the key national exhibitions held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, introduced a special new materials section, according to the People's Daily.

The rapid growth of China's domestic high-tech industries is reflected in the ever-growing sales of PEEK in the country in the past decade.

Tapping the Chinese market

In 2012, the domestic market consumed a negligible portion of Evonik's PEEK output. Today, China's home market plays an important role in Evonik's global sales, and the market demand has been strong, Bu said, adding that China is likely to become its largest market.

Being an early resident in the Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone, which was launched 31 years ago, Evonik has witnessed significant transformations in the development zone.

Initially, most companies in the zone were tied to the automotive industry, producing auto parts, but nowadays, there are more companies operating in the emerging high-tech manufacturing sectors, according to Bu.

The Changchun Economic and Technological Development Zone, as Changchun's second largest industrial complex by annual output after the FAW Group, currently hosts over 700 foreign businesses, including 46 from the Fortune Global 500 companies, according to a read-out provided to the Global Times by the development zone.

Northeast China is becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investors, Bu noted. "At a recent investment promotion event in Jilin Province, I was surprised to discover a gathering of major German chemical giants."

Recently, China's leadership has called on the country's state-level economic and technological development zones to ramp up innovation and foster high-standard opening-up, in order to achieve high-quality economic development. Also, the development zones are urged to spearhead in developing new quality productive forces.

In recent years, to support industrial upgrades and leverage China's skilled talent pool, a number of well-known multinational companies have increased their investments in Northeast China, including German automaker BMW's 20-billion-yuan ($2.79 billion) investment in upgrading its production base in Shenyang, Liaoning Province in 2024, and Audi's 35-billion-yuan investment in its NEV project in cooperation with FAW Group in Changchun city.

Analysts believe that foreign companies are proactively realigning their investment strategies with China's macro policy to develop modern manufacturing capability and pursue new industrialization. Meanwhile, global corporations are also looking to rejuvenate themselves by tapping into China's massive market. 

Bu Yonggang, general manager of Evonik High Performance Material (Jilin Changchun) Co. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT