GE Moves Its X-ray Unit’s World HQ To China

We knew that China’s economy had achieved formidable momentum, but we didn’t know just how formidable until Monday, when GE Healthcare announced that the global headquarters of its GE X-ray business would be moving to Beijing.

The headquarters is currently in Waukesha, Wisconsin. A GE news release announcing the move quoted Rachel Duan, president and CEO of GE Healthcare China, as saying:

By aiding the government’s already robust nationwide primary care efforts, GE is committing to help improve healthcare quality and access in both urban and rural China.

In other words, China represents a massive market for GE’s X-ray products, so GE decided to put the top executives of its x-ray unit in the middle of those markets. And it has the government as a partner, which always helps, especially in China.

Anne LeGrand, vice president and general manager of x-ray for GE Healthcare, told Bloomberg News that GE plans to develop more than 20 percent of the x-ray unit’s new products in China. She said the company sees great opportunities in the country’s ongoing conversion from analog to digital x-ray technology:

When you look at a market like China, it’s primarily analog. So we feel this will also bring digital technology at an appropriate price point.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that another Asian giant, Samsung Electronics Company of South Korea, was negotiating to buy companies that make MRI scanners and x-ray machines as part of a big move into the health-care field. Samsung last year invested in ultrasound companies, buying 43.5 percent of Medison Company and 100 percent of Prosonic. Samsung increased its stake in Medison to 65.8 percent in April.

Samsung’s own medical-equipment business grew from a staff of fewer than 10 people in 2009 to more than 200 now, said Senior Vice President Jo Jae Moon. He said:

We have a target to be the number one across ultrasound devices, x-rays, and MRIs.

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