China ranks as Germany's top source of investment projects in 2025

BERLIN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies became the largest source of foreign investment projects in Germany last year, overtaking the United States for the first time since 2017, an official report showed Thursday.

Chinese firms launched 228 investment projects in Germany in 2025, up 14.6 percent from the previous year, according to the annual report by federal agency Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI).

U.S. companies, by contrast, accounted for 206 projects, down 10 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, Switzerland ranked third, with 174 projects after a 13.9-percent decline.

The report tracks greenfield investments and expansion projects but excludes mergers and acquisitions.

The number of foreign investment projects in Germany fell 9.3 percent overall to 1,564 in 2025, reflecting what GTAI described as a challenging global investment environment. The agency noted that Germany remained relatively resilient compared with its European Union peers, where foreign investment projects declined by around 18 percent across the bloc.

Chinese investors showed the strongest interest in electronics and automation, transport and logistics, energy, and digitalization, the report said.

More than one in five Chinese investment projects involved production and research-and-development activities, above the overall average for foreign investment projects in Germany. This is a sign that Chinese firms are deepening their integration into the local industrial base, according to GTAI.

Thomas Bozoyan, a GTAI expert and the report's author, said Chinese companies were continuously expanding their footprint in Germany, in particular across industrial applications, cutting-edge and future technologies, as well as knowledge-intensive services.

"This not only underlines Germany's long-term attractiveness for Chinese investors, but also reflects the accelerating international expansion and global ambitions of Chinese companies," he said.