Nippon Coating Plant in Tianjin to Go Online in June

Visitors gather at Nippon Paint China’s booth during an industry fair in Shanghai in August. The Singapore-based Nipsea Group is the parent company of Nippon Paint China. [PHOTO/CHINA DAILY]

Driven by an automobile production boom in China, Nipsea Group, parent company of Nippon Paint China, will bring a new plant online with an investment of 960 million yuan ($133 million) in Tianjin in June, said its top executive.

The Singapore-based company’s Tianjin plant will focus on producing industrial coatings to meet surging demand from China’s automotive sector.

Nipsea will also launch a new innovation center with 1,000 researchers and staff members in Shanghai in early 2026. It will be Nipsea’s largest such facility in the Asia-Pacific region.

Wee Siew Kim, CEO of Nipsea, said the company aims to consolidate its tech teams, enabling them to generate even greater value for the group’s business in China by early 2026.

Nipsea, one of the world’s largest coatings and construction solutions manufacturers by sales revenue, was established by Goh Cheng Liang, an overseas Chinese entrepreneur, in Singapore in 1962. Its country unit Nippon Paint China currently runs 70 plants with around 11,000 employees across the country.

Following China’s announcement that it has lifted all restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector and implemented measures to ensure equal treatment for foreign-funded companies, Wee said that these moves have greatly bolstered Nipsea’s confidence in the country.