Chinese investment in Europe rose for the first time in seven years in 2024, driven by a surge in electric vehicle and battery projects in Hungary, even as Chinese firms increasingly shunned the UK, Germany and France.
Total Chinese foreign direct investment in the EU and UK climbed 47 per cent to €10bn last year, according to data from the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies and consultancy Rhodium Group.
While the rebound marked a break in the downward trend, total FDI was just a fifth of the 2016 peak and was heavily concentrated among a small group of firms, including battery makers CATL and Envision, tech group Tencent and carmaker Geely.