Chinese firms’ R&D internationalization: Leveraging global inventor networks for technological exploration

This study investigates the spatial distribution and key factors associated with Chinese firms' R&D internationalization by using overseas patent application data from 1273 Chinese firms filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) over the period 2012–2019. We construct a global inventor network of Chinese firms, focusing on the role of firm-level internal motivations (the breadth and depth of firm's overseas R&D) and the position of cities within this network. Our analysis reveals that information and communications technology (ICT) firms, such as Huawei, dominate these activities, with Shenzhen emerging as a key hub. Chinese firms' R&D internationalization is primarily directed towards major innovation clusters in North America and Europe, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Munich. Using a panel negative binomial fixed-effects model, we find the degree centrality of overseas cities within the global R&D network is positively associated with their attractiveness for Chinese firms. This paper presents a collection of stylized facts about the patterns of Chinese firms' R&D internationalization. Moreover, there is a U-shaped relationship between the breadth of overseas R&D and technological exploration, and an inverted U-shaped relationship between the depth of overseas R&D and technological exploration.