A group of leading Chinese companies have completed their Dubai deployments intensively over the past year.
On June 24, a reporter from 21st Century Business Herald learned from DET that in 2025, China landed a total of 41 greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Dubai, a year-on-year increase of 32.2%. By number of projects, China became the fifth largest source of greenfield FDI in Dubai, ranking fourth in total investment.
According to DET statistics, China's greenfield FDI projects mainly involve industrial equipment, transportation and warehousing, electronic components, auto parts, and original equipment manufacturing.
It has been sorted out that multiple Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Huawei, Meituan, and BYD, have completed their business layouts in Dubai in 2025, covering cloud computing, digital life, consumer electronics, new energy vehicles, and autonomous driving.
(2025 Dubai Greenfield FDI Source Ranking, Source: DET)
In the technology and internet sector, Meituan Keeta launched food delivery services in Dubai in September 2025. It is understood that the platform expanded rapidly locally, covering all seven emirates of the UAE by the end of last December. Almost concurrently, Alibaba Cloud announced the activation of its second data center in Dubai—nearly a decade after first entering the market in 2016—directly targeting the explosive demand of local enterprises for cloud computing and AI.
Huawei also significantly expanded its business layout in Dubai last year, covering consumer retail, the automotive ecosystem, and enterprise artificial intelligence. It is understood that Huawei reopened its high-end experience store at the Dubai Mall and collaborated with local developers to expand its smart device ecosystem.
The automotive industry chain is another main line.
In 2024, the UAE launched the "Industry 4.0" strategy, requiring 20% local assembly of automobiles by 2027. Therefore, automakers such as BYD and Chery have significantly expanded their business layouts in Dubai and the entire UAE.
Chery previously announced the establishment of an automobile manufacturing plant in Dubai in 2025, mainly serving the UAE and Gulf region markets, and expanding its dealer network coverage in the region.
BYD chose to cooperate with the UAE's Al-Futtaim Group, aiming for a 3% market share. According to previous information, its expansion focuses include building advanced charging infrastructure, promoting electric public transport systems, and launching a diverse lineup of new energy vehicles (NEVs).
Apart from traditional automakers, autonomous driving companies are also actively going overseas to the Middle East.
In 2016, Dubai released the "Autonomous Transportation Strategy," clearly stating that by 2030, 25% of transportation trips will adopt autonomous driving. The autonomous vehicle industry has been regarded by Dubai as a key pillar of economic transformation and smart city construction.
Against this backdrop, a large number of Chinese autonomous driving companies have begun to "enter" Dubai.
In July last year, Pony.ai reached a cooperation with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and launched its seventh-generation robotaxi in Dubai. It is understood that after obtaining a test permit in September, the company has conducted unmanned trial operations and plans to officially commence commercial operations for the public in the second half of 2026, achieving seamless integration with Dubai's diverse transportation networks, including the metro, tram, and maritime routes.
Similarly, WeRide also reached a cooperation with Dubai RTA last year and officially launched its robotaxi service for the public through the Uber app. On March 31 this year, Dubai officially initiated the commercial operation of pure unmanned Robotaxis.
Data from the fDi Markets database shows that Dubai has remained the world's top destination for greenfield FDI projects for the fifth consecutive year. In attracting FDI, Dubai has reached one of its best levels since 2015.
In 2025, Dubai attracted $8.83 billion (approximately AED 32.43 billion) in greenfield FDI capital, with the total number of announced greenfield FDI projects increasing to 1,253, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%.
