An overview of industrial investment in the European Union from 2019 to May 2024

Using data from the Trendeo database,

we can profile different regions when it comes to investment and

jobs created since 2016

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The European Union, by Rayan Benamane

The European Union accounts for 9% of global investment on our basis from 2019 to May 2024, with a slight downward slope since 2022, which was confirmed last year and tends to continue again this year (it goes from 9.4% of global investment in 2019 to 9.1% in 2023).

While the region has seen a significant increase in investment in chemicals, pharmaceuticals and metallurgy in 2023 compared with 2022, it has seen a decline in very important sectors such as electronics and electrical equipment - although these two sectors are still investing at a higher level than their average over the last five years.

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Electronics remains the sector with the highest level of investment (over 23.8 billion USD), including the 8-billion USD expansion of GlobalFoundries ' semiconductor plant in Germany.
Significant investment in 2023 is expected in electricity and gas (18.1 billion USD), pharmaceuticals (18 billion) and electrical equipment (13.6 billion).

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Investments in other sectors such as military vehicles 🚁 or aeronautics ✈️ are also set to rise sharply in 2023 📈.

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Overall, manufacturing industries have accounted for over 60% of investment in the region over the past 5 years 🏭.

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Germany and France together accounted for 35% of investments in the European Union over the period. Overall, Western European countries accounted for 46% of investments, particularly in manufacturing (52%), data centers (54%) and R&D activities (94%).

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Over the past five years, Western and Northern Europe have seen their share of the EU total fall (East from 48% to 46% of the EU total, North from 15% to 13%). Central and Eastern Europe and Southern Europe increased, from 20% to 22% for the former, and from 17% to 20% for the latter.

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The United States accounts for almost 40% of industrial FDI received by the European Union since 2019, making it by far the leading foreign investor in the EU (mainly in electronics). East Asian countries, led by China, account for almost a third of industrial FDI (32%).

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Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates accounted for most of the remaining foreign investment in the region over the period.