【Global News】In 2026, as the global infrastructure market booms and investment demand surges, architectural design institutes worldwide are accelerating their overseas expansion, striving to seize the huge dividend brought by global infrastructure construction. Driven by policy support, market demand and technological advantages, Chinese, European and other design institutes have continuously expanded their global layout, with emerging markets such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa becoming key battlefields for their overseas development.
The global infrastructure dividend is becoming increasingly prominent, laying a solid foundation for design institutes to go global. According to a joint estimate by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the annual investment gap in infrastructure in key regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia exceeds 600 billion US dollars in the next five years, with transportation, energy, water conservancy and digital infrastructure becoming priority areas supported by national policies.
Chinese design institutes have become a major force in seizing the global infrastructure dividend, with remarkable achievements in overseas expansion. Recently, China Southwest Architecture Design and Research Institute (CSWADI) won the bid for the Riyadh Twin Towers project with its original design "Whispers of the Dunes", which integrates local Bedouin and Islamic cultural elements and adopts sustainable design concepts to save 15% of energy compared with competitors .
Policy support and technological innovation have provided strong impetus for design institutes to go global. The in-depth advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative and the implementation of RCEP have simplified the procedures for cross-border service delivery and reduced market access costs.
Industry insiders point out that the overseas expansion of design institutes is not only a response to global infrastructure demand, but also an inevitable trend of industrial upgrading. While Chinese design institutes rely on cost-effectiveness and technological advantages to expand their market share, European and Japanese design institutes also focus on high-end market layout, leading to increasingly fierce global competition