Chinese Investments, Trade, Europe Countries, FDI, Exports – Imports
Chinese direct investments in Europe have increased for the second consecutive year in 2025. According to the recent study conducted by analytics companies Rhodium Group and MERICS, investments arrived to 16.8 billion – the highest value since 2018.
Driven by strong M&A increase, up 89% y-o-y to 7.9 billion, 67% up on 2024 was in the news.
Chinese “greenfield” (investment in new facilities) investment continued to record growth however, increasing 51 percent on year earlier levels to an all time high of 8.9 billion. A stated in this analysis, Europe attracted close to one quarter of all international Chinese FDI in 2025.
Hungary on Top, Germany and France Gaining Ground
Although Hungary is still the most popular country in Europe for Chinese investors, a higher amount of Chinese investments flowed into Germany and France compared to previous year. Hungary received 3.9 billion of Chinese investments in 2004, whereas Germany and France received 2.5 billion and 1.9 billion respectively.
Germany’s share of all Chinese FDI in Europe increased to 15% (from 10% in 2024), while France saw its share increase to 12% (from a mere 5% in 2024). This indicates that although Hungary maintains its practice of leveraging its historically tight relations with Beijing, Western European countries are also pulling significant investments from China.
The EV Supply Chain is Driving the Surge
Chinese capital flowing into the automobile industry in Europe reached an impressive 7.6 billion. Of which, 93 percent flowed to electric vehicle supply chain. However, the share of Chinese investment in automobile industry fell to 45 percent (52 percent in 2024).
The entertainment industry received 2.3 billion of Chinese direct investment throughout Europe last year and the services industry one billion. This diversification implies that Chinese companies are expanding outside of their traditional manufacturing confinements by investing in consumer facing industries.
A Possible Slowdown on the Horizon
Despite reaching record levels, the overall report has a warning of sorts. While greenfield investments have hit record levels, the sale of the value of investors newly announced transactions indicates a potential slowing down of the greenfield sector over coming years. In 2025, Chinese newly announced greenfield investments made up 5.2 billion manufacturing equipment and facilities went into 4 and 2023 up to 16.9 billion.
Chinese Exports to Europe Also Rising
The research also indicates that Chinese exports to Europe is still increasing, a sign that the EU market still remains open to Chinese products. The total value of Chinese products exported to EU increased by 9% in 2005, with battery exports experiencing a growth of 43%, car exports by 15%, and wind energy equipment exports by as much as 65%.
Across the board, what we see is closer economic integration between China and Europe-despite mounting political disagreements over trade policy, technology, and security issues. The challenge is for Brussels to weigh the benefits of Chinese capital investment against its sense of increasing strategic reliance on China (in areas such as electric vehicles and clean energy, pivotal to Europe’s green transition).
