Communications and renewable energy attract the most foreign direct investment from scratch

Despite increased trade tensions and turbulence in international markets, companies have announced greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth more than $1 trillion in 2025.

Visualcapitalist.com ranks the top ten sectors that attracted the most FDI globally last year, based on project announcements from fDi Markets. The figures include only greenfield FDI, which involves new capital investments. Mergers, acquisitions and loans between companies are excluded.

According to the cited source, communications has become the largest destination for foreign direct investment in greenfield projects in 2025, attracting capital investment worth $346 billion. Renewable energy followed with $200 billion. Together, the two sectors accounted for half of all greenfield FDI announced during the past year.

Communications registered an 88% increase in foreign direct investments compared to the previous year, in 812 projects. These included 57 megaprojects with capital expenditures valued at more than $1 billion.

Renewable energy fell to second place after leading foreign direct investment for six consecutive years from 2019 to 2024. Investment in the sector fell by about 25% from $264 billion in 2024 as major industrial powers, including the US and the European Union, shifted their political priorities.

• Investments in semiconductors - at a record level

Semiconductors will attract $138 billion in 2025, the sector's highest total ever and up more than 10 percent from 2024. New semiconductor makers are emerging as companies seek to diversify their supply chains, according to the source. Major chipmakers such as Intel and TSMC were among the companies that made large capital spending commitments.

However, the investments remained very concentrated. North America and the Asia-Pacific region received 97.5% of total FDI in greenfield semiconductors.

• Other sectors that attract foreign direct investment

The real estate sector, ranked fourth, was the only field to attract more than 100 billion dollars in 2025. Investments reached 112 billion dollars, the highest level since 2018, after five consecutive years of growth. The sector total in 2025 was about 15.7% higher than in 2024.

Meanwhile, foreign investments in coal, oil and gas fell by 31.3%, reaching 61 billion dollars. This was the sector's second consecutive annual decline.

Transportation and storage attracted $58 billion following modest growth, with announced projects expected to create nearly 145,000 jobs.

• USA, Canada, Japan - the countries that concentrate the greatest confidence of investors

In the last decade, global investors have rethought the direction in which capital flows. According to the 2026 Confidence in Foreign Direct Investment Index, conducted by the consulting firm Kearney, the US remains at the top of the ranking, a position occupied both in 2016 and in 2026. But, Canada and Japan have suddenly risen in the ranking of investors' preferences, while China has dropped from second to fourth place from 2016 to the present, notes visualcapitalist.com.

The biggest change in the rankings is China's decline over the past ten years, while Canada has moved up to second and Japan to third. The ranking highlights a major reorganization of investor confidence in the last decade. The United Arab Emirates (9th place) and Saudi Arabia (10th place) now rank alongside investment powers such as Germany (5th place) and Great Britain (6th place). This year, Saudi Arabia entered the global Top 10 for the first time. Increasingly, the Gulf states are leveraging their sovereign wealth and infrastructure spending to position themselves as technology and logistics hubs.