A record-breaking 2023 for PAIH

Article

12.03.2024

A record-breaking 2023 for PAIH

The year 2023 was a record-breaking year for the Polish Investment and Trade Agency in terms of foreign direct investments that are or will be implemented in Poland with PAIH’s support. The value of these investments is estimated at more than EUR 7.4 billion, which is almost twice as much as in 2022 (EUR 3.74 billion).

The largest foreign direct investment is Intel’s announced semiconductor integration and testing facility. The Silicon Valley giant will invest USD 4.6 billion in Miękinia and Środa Śląska near Wrocław and will create over 2,000 new jobs. Thanks to this investment, Poland will become a part of the most important economic sector – semiconductors.

Intel already has a research and development (R&D) centre in Gdansk, where microprocessors are designed. The R&D centre is one of the largest of the 23 laboratories located in Europe and employs more than 4,500 people.

However, the e-mobility industry is still the leader when it comes to foreign investments in Poland.

The Umicore Group, which has been present in Poland since 2015, together with PowerCo (a Volkswagen Group company), have created a joint-venture company called IONWAY, which by the end of 2030 will invest almost EUR 1.7 billion in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone “Invest-Park” and will employ about 900 people. The factory in Radzikowice near Nysa will produce cathode materials for batteries for electric vehicles. For Umicore, this is their third plant in Poland and the second factory in the Opole region. Thanks to this investment, logistics costs in the complete supply chain of both IONWAY partners will be significantly reduced. For investors, the decisive argument for choosing this location, apart from its central location in Europe, was also the close proximity of research institutes and the availability of qualified staff studying at numerous universities throughout the Silesian and Opole region.

Volvo Cars will also open its R&D centre in Krakow. It will be the fourth largest facility in the world, after Stockholm and Lund (Sweden) and Bangalore (India). Volvo Cars, appreciating Poland’s potential of very well-educated people, will want to employ about 600 people. The Tech Hub in Krakow will be used to create software for the next electric Volvo models.

Robert Bosch Sp. z o.o., part of the Bosch Group, operating in four sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods and Energy and Building Technology, will invest in a heat pump factory in Dobromierz, Świdnica district, the value of which is estimated at PLN 1.2 billion. Construction work will begin in 2024 and the factory is expected to be ready in late 2025 or early 2026. The plant will produce outdoor and indoor heat pump units primarily for the European market. Thanks to this investment, the region will gain about 500 new jobs.

At the same time, Bosch in Mirków near Wrocław will invest more than PLN 100 million in the expansion of their existing plant where braking systems are manufactured.

Baltic Towers, a company operating in the sector of production of processed structural metal, together with the Industrial Development Agency S.A. and the Spanish company GRI Renewable Industries, S.L., will build a factory of towers for offshore wind energy (off-shore wind farms) in Gdańsk. The estimated value of the investment is over EUR 150 million, and the planned start of production is 2025. The state-of-the-art plant is expected to produce more than 120 towers per year and create around 400 new jobs.

Brembo Poland Manufacturing Sp. z o.o., a company that is part of the Brembo Group, manufactures braking systems for the automotive industry, will invest in its factory in Dąbrowa Górnicza. For an amount of over PLN 240 million, the company will launch a new production line of brake discs for cars, at the same time creating another 100 jobs.

Visa, one of the world’s leaders in digital payments, will open a global technology and product hub in Poland. The project will be the first of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe and the fifth in global strategic importance. Over the next few years, the hub will employ 1,500 technology specialists.

In 2023, a total of 74 high-quality investment projects were completed with PAIH’s participation. The countries where the largest number of investors came from are the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

On the 5^th March 2024, PAIH’s Investor’s Gala was held in Warsaw, an event summing up the investments carried out with the support of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency. The Gala also served to strengthen relations between business, State Institutions, non-governmental organizations and Local Government more