Renewables, chips, and batteries lead FDI this year, while data centers bounce back, by Alex Irwin-Hunt FDI Intelligence
The energy transition and digitization of the global economy continued to shape the top-10 recipient sectors for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half of 2023, according to preliminary figures from greenfield investment fDi Markets.
Between January and June 2023, foreign investors announced investment projects worth almost $558bn worldwide. This marked the third-largest capital expenditure recorded for a six-month period since 2008, after roughly $600bn of FDI pledges in both the first and second half of 2022.
The FDI landscape was largely driven by the continuation of large capital intensive projects, most notably in renewables and batteries, but also in metals, semiconductors and data centres. The latest half-year 2023 figures from fDi Markets show that 72 mega projects worth at least $1bn have been announced, down by 14% on the first half of 2022, but still the second-highest number on record.
