Pepsi to Invest $1 Billion in China

Pepsi is following Wal-Mart (WMT), Starbucks (SBUX) and Coke (KO) into China.

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) announced today that it plans to invest $1 billion in China over the next four years. The investment is part of the company's ongoing strategy to expand in emerging markets and broaden its portfolio of locally-relevant products.

PepsiCo's investment in China will fund a variety of major capital programs to expand manufacturing capacity, particularly in interior and western areas and will be used to expand local research and development facilities and build the company's sales force to broaden product distribution. It also will fund brand-building initiatives as well as development of new products tailored to Chinese consumers.

Pepsi is a bit late to the party in China. It main competition, Coke already has been there for years and has a firn toe-hold in the country. That being said, there are billion folks there to sell to, it just won't be as easy as it could have been.