The past few years have seen a wave of mega projects in the US and Europe. Major multinational corporations have set in motion big-ticket projects on both sides of the Atlantic, in a bid to strengthen their local production capacity and beef up the resilience imperative championed by Western policy-makers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Among major economies in western Europe, France has been a bit of a laggard. Global powerhouses of the likes of Tesla, Northvolt and Intel picked neighbouring Germany for their new European landmark projects; Chinese battery behemoth CATL Hungary; Korean SK Poland and Japanese Nissan the UK. 

France did get its share. Among others, US-based GlobalFoundries is investing up to $5.7bn with Geneva-based STMicroelectronics for the expansion of an existing chip factory in the French Alps. However, the country has attracted fewer mega projects than its size and investment environment would suggest. The country slipped to fifth place for overall foreign direct investment (FDI) capital pledges in western Europe in 2022, behind the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany, according to greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets.

In this context, 2023 poses a unique opportunity for France to raise its mega projects game as five major foreign companies are currently looking to invest more than $1bn in a new production facility in Europe.

The first is by biotech firm Moderna, which is looking to build a vaccine factory in the EU. The company is demanding a long-term commitment from the French government to buy the factory’s production. France has no national Covid vaccine manufacturer so there is a strong political will to attract the project. The French press revealed that president Emmanuel Macron is personally involved to convince Moderna’s CEO and French national Stéphane Bancel to locate the European plant in France.  

The second is a project by Prologium, a Taiwanese manufacturer of solid-state batteries, which wants to build a €4.5bn factory in Europe. This has the potential to create more than 3000 jobs. The company will make its decision by mid-2023 and has already shortlisted three countries: Germany, Netherlands and France.

Another mega project in the making is by Chinese BYD, which is battling with Tesla to become the world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer. The company announced that it wants to build two plants in Europe. The Financial Times recently revealed that Germany, Poland, Spain, Hungary and France are the five countries shortlisted by BYD to host its first factory in Europe.

Elsewhere in the realm of electric mobility, Vinfast, the Vietnamese manufacturer of premium electric SUVs, is reportedly considering Germany, Italy and France for its long-term plans to set up a first European plant. In the meantime, the company is building its first plant in the US. 

Finally, the South Korean press revealed that Samsung Electronics would like to build a chip fabrication plant in Europe, but plans could be delayed as the industry is currently slowing down.

The five projects mentioned, whose location could be selected in 2023, amount to €25bn in investments and could create 12,000 new jobs. They can secure the prosperity of each country’s industrial sector in the next decades. Besides, they represent technologies that will be key for the country’s future sovereignty — mRNA vaccines, electric vehicles and semiconductors. The stakes are high, and it’s not just about capital investment. 

Guillaume Gau is an executive in an industrial start-up, FDI expert and contributor to the French think-tank Le Millénaire. He recently released a report about industrial mega-projects in France and Europe. 

Twitter: guillaume_ggc