Recent years, foreign manufacturers have extended their manufacturing footprint to include China. According to the World Bank China has overtaken Japan as the world’s second-largest economy since 2010. China’s growth is largely funded by a continuous manufacturing boom where both domestic industries and infrastructure have developed extensively, facilitating foreign-owned manufacturing companies to locate production in China. An important issue of common interest to all manufacturing companies in the course of localizing production to China is how to develop an efficient supply base. On a basis of interviews with 12 manufacturing entities (comprising eight foreign manufacturers and four local supplier companies) in China from April to July, 2012, this paper investigates factors of importance to supply base localisation in China. The analysis of the empirical and theoretical findings constitutes the bases for increased understanding supporting foreign manufactures in their development of a supply base and sourcing strategy for production in China.