(Yicai) March 19 -- Seventy-two percent of chief executive officers at Chinese mainland companies surveyed by UK accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers said they are optimistic about their business growth prospects over the next three years.

The figure is much higher than the global average of 53 percent, PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey China Report showed yesterday.

Chinese CEOs remain highly confident in their business growth prospects, despite sharing concerns over economic swings and inflation with their global counterparts and displaying heightened sensitivity to geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions, the report said.

“This confidence stems from multiple factors: the fundamental long-term resilience of both the Chinese and global economies, the effective incentives of China's macroeconomic policies, and the advancement of Chinese enterprises' global layout," said Josene Zhou, PwC China public affairs leader.

Zhou expects the Chinese market to remain attractive, driven by innovation, technological breakthroughs, and the ongoing implementation of policies introduced last September, which aim to tackle short-term challenges while supporting long-term growth and strategic planning.

In terms of investment over the next 12 months, the United States remains the top offshore destination for 46 percent of Chinese mainland CEOs, followed by Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, and Germany, per the report. For global CEOs, the top four were the US, the UK, Germany, and the Chinese mainland.

The report also indicates that Chinese CEOs are increasingly optimistic about the long-term viability of their businesses. Only 44 percent believe their firms may face survival challenges within 10 years if they continue on their current course, down from 75 percent last year.

“Over the past two years, driven by new quality productive forces, China has demonstrated a commercial evolution path distinct from those of the traditional industrialized nations, marked by improvements in production factors, transformations in business models, and the intelligent reshaping of industrial chains,” PwC China Markets Leader Geoffrey Wang said.

“This has opened fresh opportunities for global business investment and development in China, highlighting the new advantages of the Chinese market during a period of global economic transition," Wang added.

It also “echoes with their heightened confidence in the Chinese business environment over the medium to long term, as the country pivots towards high-quality development marked by new quality productive forces leading to stellar performances in strategic sectors like electric vehicles, artificial intelligence modeling, and robot and advanced manufacturing," according to the report.

The report also highlights a strong commitment to accelerated reinvention. The vast majority of CEOs in both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have undertaken at least one major initiative in the past five years, including investments in generative AI, tackling climate change opportunities and threats, and reinventing their operations and business models to create new sources of value.

As AI adoption gains increasing traction globally, 49 percent of Chinese mainland CEOs expressed a high degree of trust in integrating AI into their core processes, compared with 33 percent worldwide.

"This trust is crucial for unlocking the full potential of AI technologies and driving innovation within organizations," the report noted, adding that it is also partly a result of Chinese companies making breakthroughs in localizing GenAI over the past year.

"China's leading technology firms are increasingly adopting the 'technology middle platform' strategy, which significantly reduces barriers to the adoption and deployment of new technologies," according to Wilson Chow, PwC China AI leader.

Editor: Futura Costaglione