China: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approving 13 foreign-invested firms for value-added telecommunications services

On 28 February 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) approved the granting of pilot operating licences to 13 foreign-invested value-added telecommunications services in Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan and Shenzhen. Foreign ownership of value-added telecommunications services, including data centres, is generally capped at 50%. However, the initial group of exempt companies includes subsidiaries of multinational corporations such as HSBC's Fintech Services (Shanghai), Airbus's (China) Enterprise Management Service, Siemens Digital Technology (Shenzhen), and Deutsche Telekom (China) Communication Technology.