Business France published the 2025 Foreign Investment Review on 29 January. With 3,547 jobs created or safeguarded through foreign investment in 2025, Normandy has reached a historic high in employment linked to international attractiveness. In a more constrained global economic environment, following several years of strong momentum, the region is once again demonstrating the robustness of its attractiveness model – one rooted in industry, production and the long-term anchoring of activities within the region.
More selective attractiveness, but significantly stronger job creation
In 2025, 82 foreign investment decisions were recorded in Normandy. While the number of projects is down compared with the previous year, their economic and social impact has increased sharply.
The region reports:
• 3,547 jobs created or maintained
• A very significant increase compared with 2024 (2,177 jobs)
• A performance that places Normandy above its national economic weight
Although Normandy accounts for 4.4% of projects recorded nationwide, it accounts for 7.4% of the associated jobs, confirming its ability to attract investments with high employment intensity. This underlines an attractiveness strategy focused on the quality and value of projects rather than simply the sheer volume of projects.
A region firmly focused on production and industry, leading in jobs per project
The structure of foreign investment in 2025 clearly reflects Normandy’s industrial positioning:
• 32% of projects relate to production activities
• These projects account for 76% of jobs created or maintained
This profile sets Normandy apart from other French regions and confirms its role as a prime location for industrial sites, production facilities and high value-added activities. In this respect, Normandy ranks ahead of other regions in terms of the number of jobs created or maintained per investment project.
These foreign investment decisions highlight the region’s capacity to host large-scale, sustainable projects that are deeply embedded in the local economy.
Strengthened strategic industrial sectors
Foreign investments in 2025 have contributed to reinforcing key sectors of the regional economy:
• Automotive
• Agri-food
• Energy and the energy transition
• Logistics and transport
• Chemicals, recycling and industrial services
Notably, Normandy captures 10% of national employment linked to automotive projects and 8% in the agri-food sector, confirming its central role in French and European industrial value chains.
European attractiveness, embedded in value chains
More than three quarters of projects are driven by European investors, with Germany as the leading investing country in Normandy, followed by Belgium, the United States, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
This geographic distribution reflects Normandy’s deep integration into major European industrial value chains, notably in automotive, energy, logistics and processing industries.
Normandy, an industrial region in transformation
These results are fully aligned with the regional strategy that places industry at the heart of economic transformation. Normandy is leveraging its structural strengths: competitive, low-carbon energy; major port and logistics infrastructures; available industrial land; technical skills; and strong innovation ecosystems.
Far from opportunistic attractiveness, the region is asserting a model built on reindustrialisation, the upgrading of production capabilities and the creation of sustainable jobs.
