Direct investment by China in the United States set a record high of $8 billion in 2015, with the American manufacturing sector seeing the biggest influx of capital, according to research by China’s Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, state run news organization Xinhua reported Tuesday.

China invested $4 billion in U.S. manufacturing in 2015, representing half of the country’s total investments in the U.S. and an increase of 122.2% from the previous year. Companies based in China engaged in 97 mergers and acquisitions – worth about $13.1 billion – with US firms last year.

Xinhua reported that manufacturing holds the largest share of Chinese investment in the U.S., with a total value of $10.7 billion, or 26.3% of all Chinese direct investments in America. The report’s authors said that most Chinese investments were in auto making, ferrous metal smelting, pharmaceuticals, and transport equipment manufacturers.

While the U.S. remains the world’s largest source of outbound investments, China now ranks second, the news service said. The country’s outbound direct investment (ODI) totaled $146 billion in 2016, a 18.3% increase from 2014.

The amount China spent abroad exceeded “the $136 billion in foreign direct investment it received, making it a net capital exporter for the first time,” said the state-run news agency.

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