“Our customers’ confidence is in China’s internal development, continued growth, adoption of new zero-carbon or low-carbon technologies, and expansion from China overseas. And we will look to do so along with our customers and partners in the country,” said Nathan Stoner, Vice president and Chairman of Cummins China, when chatting with GDToday while participating in the launching ceremony of the “Invest in China Year” in Guangzhou on March 28.

Founded in 1919, Cummins is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. As one of the earliest multinationals establishing entities in China, Cummins set up its first China Office in Beijing in 1979.

“In many of our industries, China represents 40 to 50 percent of the global volume for domestic and indirect export outside. We have solid partnerships with many players in our industry. Where they see investment, and where they see growth, we follow,” Stoner indicated.

Cummings usually follows where the customers invest. With Sinopec, one of its closest partners in China, Cummins launched the joint venture Cummins Enze (Guangdong) Hydrogen Technology Co., Ltd., headquartered in Foshan of Guangdong province in 2021.

According to the company’s announcement, Cummins Enze initially invested 47 million USD (300 million RMB) to locate a manufacturing plant to produce proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. The plant will initially have a manufacturing capacity of 500 megawatts of electrolyzers per year upon completion in 2023, which will gradually increase over the next five years to reach one gigawatt of manufacturing capacity per year.  

This is mainly because Guangdong has absolute advantages in the hydrogen energy sector. With Foshan as the leading city, Guangdong has initially formed an entire hydrogen energy industrial chain, covering hydrogen energy production, storage, transportation, and supply chain, critical basic materials and core components of fuel cells, fuel cell systems, fuel cell systems, and terminal applications. By the end of 2021, Guangdong has gathered over 400 hydrogen energy companies, with an industrial output value of over 10 billion RMB.

Stoner indicated that as Cummins has been in China over 50 years, and it gave them the confidence that China will provide more opportunities to make the company grow and diversify in China and also to benefit the rest of the business globally.

Reported by Fanny, Eastbrook

Video by Eastbrook, Zoey

Edited by Wing, Olivia, Nan, James