Sofima Automotive Filter (Shanghai)Co Ltd, the first wholly owned production base of Italy’s UFI Group in China, has located in Qingpu District for 30 years.

It has grown from a single factory into a regional headquarters for multinational corporations and an Asia‑Pacific innovation hub, vividly reflecting Qingpu’s continuous efforts to improve its business environment and attract foreign investment.

In 1996, UFI Group placed its first wholly owned Chinese factory in the Qingpu Industrial Park. Since then, Sofima has steadily strengthened its manufacturing and technological capabilities, focusing on the R&D and production of filtration systems, thermal management components and new energy vehicle products, becoming a key supplier in China’s automotive industry chain. In 2024, the company was recognized as a regional headquarters of multinational corporations in Shanghai, making it the core of UFI Group’s production, R&D and operations in the Asia‑Pacific region.

Currently, UFI Group operates 22 manufacturing plants worldwide, seven of which are in China, with Shanghai serving as the group’s Asia‑Pacific strategic center. The R&D and testing center in Qingpu is one of UFI’s largest R&D bases globally. Over the past four years, the group’s sales in China have grown by 55 percent, and China has become UFI’s most important growth engine and strategic market worldwide.

Giorgio Girondi,chairman of UFI Group, said that Shanghai Sofima remains an extremely valuable strategic asset for the group, and that China is a strategic market for UFI’s future growth. The group will continue to increase its investment in China and grow together with the country’s automotive industry.

In recent years, Qingpu District has introduced a series of concrete measures aimed at market‑oriented, law‑based and internationalized business environment, ensuring that foreign companies are attracted, retained and well developed.

To address pain points of concern to foreign‑funded enterprises,such as cross‑border services, intellectual property rights and legal protection,Qingpu has built a closed‑loop system for foreign‑related services.This includes streamlining cross‑border approval procedures and offering green channels for regional headquarters recognition, cross‑border capital flows and personnel entry‑exit. The district has also strengthened full‑chain protection of intellectual property rights, improved rapid response mechanisms for corporate rights infringement, and stabilized long‑term development expectations for enterprises.

Leveraging the advantages of the Yangtze River Delta integration strategy, Qingpu helps foreign‑funded enterprises expand into the domestic market and connect with global resources.