The new 11 million-euro lab is the first phase of the company’s "Yangtze River Delta Operation Hub," with a planned second construction phase set to add a further 11 million euros in investment.
The laboratory center is located in Taicang in Jiangsu Province, a city located around 50 kilometers from Shanghai and which is already home to around 450 German companies.
The first phase of expansion features customers testing services in the state-of-the-art testing facilities covering more than 12,000 square meters.
These include a more than 5,000-square-meter laboratory for testing photovoltaic modules and a more than 2,000-square-meter laboratory for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing, said TÜV Rheinland.
In the second phase of development, set to be completed by the end of this year, TÜV Rheinland plans to expand its laboratory space to 37,000 square meters, making it the company’s largest laboratory site in China.
According to the company, the new lab has created already 150 jobs, with the final expansion set to increase that number to 500.
"This milestone project demonstrates the importance TÜV Rheinland attaches to the Chinese market," said Dr Michael Fübi, CEO of TÜV Rheinland. "With our tests for safety and quality, we support Chinese customers as they enter global markets."
China is already TÜV Rheinland’s most important business region outside of Germany, with the Chinese market contributing nearly one-fifth of the company’s revenues.
Currently, it employs more than 4,000 staff at 130 different testing and laboratory centers across China.