AstraZeneca has announced a $15-billion investment in China through 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development (R&D).  

China is AstraZeneca’s second-largest market and a strategic hub for global innovation, home to two global R&D centers (Beijing and Shanghai) that have led 20 global clinical trials to-date, four manufacturing sites (Wuxi, Taizhou, Qingdao, and Beijing), which supply medicines to over 70 markets globally and domestically in China, and commercial operations across five regional hubs. Headquartered in Shanghai, AstraZeneca employs over 17,000 people in China, and since 2023, the company has signed 16 global licensing agreements with 15 Chinese partners. 

The $15-billion investments build on AstraZeneca’s R&D footprint in China, including its global strategic R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai. The company will also develop its existing manufacturing facilities in Wuxi, Taizhou, Qingdao, and Beijing, together with the establishment of new sites to be announced. The investment will enhance the company’s cell-therapy and radioconjugates capabilities. Building on its 2024 acquisition of Gracell Biotechnologies, AstraZeneca says it will have end-to-end cell therapy capabilities in China. Overall, its investments will grow the company’s skilled workforce in China beyond 20,000, according to resthe company.  

The $15-billion investment by 2030 runs in parallel with AstraZeneca’s previously announced $50-billion investment in the US in R&D and manufacturing, which was announced in July 2025. The $50-billion investment across the company’s R&D and manufacturing footprint in the US over the next four years includes:    

• A new R&D center in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts;    

• A new active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility in Charlottesville, Virginia;  

• Manufacturing facilities for cell therapies in Rockville, Maryland, and Tarzana, California;    

• Continuous manufacturing expansion in Mount Vernon, Indiana;     

• A specialty manufacturing expansion in Coppell, Texas;    

• New sites to supply clinical trials; and     

• Growing research and development investment.  

Of the above investments, AstraZeneca has already announced investments in Virginia, Maryland, and Texas. The Charlottesville, Virginia facility, with an investment of $4.5 billion, will produce drug substances for AstraZeneca’s weight-management and metabolic portfolio, including an oral GLP-1, baxdrostat, oral PCSK9 products, and combination small-molecule products. The company is also expanding the scope of products to include the company’s antibody drug conjugate cancer portfolio.  

The Maryland investment included a facility expansion in Frederick, Maryland, as well as a new facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Total, the investment reached $2 billion. The Frederick facility focuses on cancer, autoimmune, respiratory and rare disease treatments. The Gaithersburg facility will be a clinical-scale manufacturing facility, planned to be operational by 2029. 

The Texas facility expansion, with an investment of $445 million, will double the production of Lokelma (sodium zirconium cyclosilicate), a drug for treating hyperkalemia (high levels of potassium in the blood). 
 
Source: AstraZeneca