Germany Trade & Invest Releases the “2025 Foreign Companies’ Investment Report in Germany”
BerlinMay 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In 2025, a total of 1,564 greenfield and expansion investment projects were realized in Germany, a year-on-year decrease of 9.3%. Germany continues to demonstrate strong resilience in international comparisons. Data shows that global foreign investment projects fell by 9.5% year-on-year, while the decline in the 27 EU member states reached 18.1%. These figures come from the “2025 Foreign Companies’ Investment Report in Germany” released by Germany Trade & Invest today.
Achim Hartig, Director of the Investment Promotion Department at Germany Trade & Invest, commented: “The above data, compiled in collaboration with the federal states, covers greenfield investments and expansion projects planned by foreign companies in Germany. Against the backdrop of a challenging global environment, this clearly demonstrates that Germany, as an investment destination, remains highly resilient overall. Compared with other European countries, Germany’s decline is relatively moderate.”
“Notably, about 20% of companies plan to invest in production facilities and research and development activities in Germany, which fully underscores the attractiveness of Germany as a modern industrial base,” Hartig added.
By source country, China surpassed the United States for the first time since 2017, ranking first with 228 investment projects, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%. The United States ranked second with 206 projects, down 10% year-on-year. Switzerland ranked third with 174 projects, a decline of 13.9% year-on-year. The report shows that, by industry, investment projects in digitalization, electronics and automation, as well as transportation and logistics, are among the top sectors.
Chinese companies’ investments in Germany are primarily concentrated in the following sectors: electronics and automation (30%), transportation and logistics (22%), and energy and raw materials (15%). The business forms of these investments are distributed as follows: market and sales (44%), production and R&D (21%), and headquarters establishment (11%).
“The investment activities of Chinese companies in Germany continue to expand, further highlighting the high diversity of their investment layouts, covering areas such as industrial applications, cutting-edge and future technologies, and knowledge-intensive services,” commented Thomas Bozoyan, author of the report. “Furthermore, 21% of Chinese investors indicated that they are further integrating production or R&D activities into their operations in Germany. This proportion is two percentage points higher than the overall average for all foreign investment projects. This result indicates that Chinese companies’ investment performance in Germany remains very strong, not only highlighting the long-term appeal of the German market to Chinese investors but also reflecting the trend of Chinese companies accelerating their internationalization and global expansion pace.”
Germany Trade & Invest is the foreign trade and inward investment agency of the German federal government. It provides advice and support to foreign companies entering the German market and assists companies established in Germany in entering foreign markets.