Baden-Württemberg

Stuttgart is the state’s top city, with 148 FDI projects, including investments from Hong Kong-based IT company Lenovo and Japan-based Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. The state’s top sector of industrial machinery, equipment and tools included an announcement from South Korea-based hand tool manufacturer YG1 in November 2017 to create 1000 manufacturing jobs.

Bavaria

Munich is Bayern’s top location, attracting 426 projects. Software and IT is the leading sector in the state and Munich has welcomed some large software projects, including the 1000 jobs announced in 2015 by IBM with the opening of its global headquarters for its Watson Internet of Things facility. 

Berlin

Software and IT services is the state’s largest sector, welcoming more than 3000 jobs. Major investments include 110 jobs created by UK-based Zoral Labs, which opened a branch in the city’s Adlershof Technology Park. 

Brandenburg

UK-based power systems company Rolls Royce is the state’s top investor, having invested twice in the period from 2013 to 2017, establishing an R&D facility in 2015 and expanding to include manufacturing operations in 2017. 

Bremen

Netherlands-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus has invested four times in Bremen and is the state’s top investor, operating manufacturing facilities and logistics operations. 

Hamburg

Almost one-fifth of all FDI in Hamburg is in software and IT services, followed by 18% in business services and 9% in transportation. 

Hessen

Frankfurt is the top city for FDI in Hessen, and attracted more than 70% of all investment in the state. 

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

The state’s top investor is Malaysia-based Genting, which invested €100m in its shipyard business in the state in July 2016. 

Niedersachsen

Hannover is the state’s top city for FDI, attracting almost half of all projects. The city’s top sector is software and IT services, followed by business services and electronic components. 

North Rhine-Westphalia

The state’s top city is Düsseldorf with 332 projects (36.3% of the state’s total FDI projects), followed by Cologne (88 projects, or 9.6%) and Duisburg (29 projects, or 3.2%).

Rheinland-Pfalz

Industrial tools and equipment is the state’s top sector for investment, including a project from China-based Xi’an Typical Europe, which set up a new €4m manufacturing plant in Kaiserslautern.

Saarland

Saarbrücken is the top city for FDI in Saarland, receiving almost two-fifths of all the state’s investment. France-based tyre manufacturer Michelin has invested in the state twice, in a manufacturing facility and in a logistics facility. 

Saxony

US-based GlobalFoundries has expanded its silicon foundry in Dresden twice. Dresden is the state’s top city for FDI, receiving 26 projects, followed by Leipzig with 22.

Saxony-Anhalt

Halle is the top city for FDI projects in Sachsen-Anhalt, welcoming 13 projects. The top investors in Halle are bakery goods company Klemme (a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Aryzta) which spent €100m on a new manufacturing plant, and Abellio (a subsidiary of Netherlands-based NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen) which created 350 jobs at a new regional headquarters in the city.

Schleswig-Holstein

Flensburg has received three FDI projects and is the state’s top city for FDI. The projects include a €1.6m expansion from Japan-based Mitsubishi Corporation, and 200 jobs that were created at Denmark-based Nordic Telephone’s TDC call centre. 

Thuringia

Thuringia’s top sector is metals, which welcomed six projects from five companies. The largest investment is from Gonvauto Thüringen, which processes metal products for the automotive industry and is a subsidiary of Spain-based Gestamp Group, when it invested €30m to expand its plant in Amt Wachsenburg, creating 60 jobs. 

Methodology

To compile the results for this ranking, fDi Intelligence, a data division of the Financial Times, looked at the FDI data between 2013 and 2017 for all states in Germany. Cities are ranked within states based on their record of attracting investment, while top sectors and investing companies within the states are also ranked. FDI data comprised project numbers, jobs figures and capital investment. Data was sourced from fDi Markets, a service tracking crossborder greenfield investment globally.