US investment in Portugal skyrockets 149% since 2019

The United States has become the third largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Portugal, surpassing China and the United Kingdom. Growth exceeded 149% in seven years.

The new data comes from a statistical review by the Bank of Portugal (BdP), with implications for several countries since 2023. The US showed the largest increase compared to the previous version, not only in absolute terms (an increase of €5.2 billion in the third quarter of 2025), but also in relative terms (46.8%).

With this new information, between the first quarter of 2019 (the start of the Bank of Portugal’s series) and the third quarter of 2025, growth was 143.1% — and not “only” 65.6%, as was thought a few months ago. However, the data from the last three months of last year should be considered, which saw a further increase, reaching €16.8 billion (149.3%). The starting point at the beginning of 2019 was €6.7 billion.

The manufacturing industry, which largely explains the revision of the figures, jumped more than €3 billion from the end of 2023 to the beginning of 2024. At the end of last year, it reached €4.5 billion, already very close to the largest share of US investment stock in the country, the responsibility of the banking and insurance sectors (€5.1 billion).

In response to the Jornal Económico, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) explains that the revision is mainly due to the “incorporation of new available information,” namely from the Simplified Business Information (IES) of 2024 — a declaration that companies must submit to the tax authorities.

The changes occurred “primarily due to acquisitions that took place between non-resident entities, impacting the country of the final investor in the FDI,” but also due to “changes in the country of residence of the final controlling entity” of that investment. In other words, the stock changed hands or the company changed its headquarters. The Bank of Portugal does not provide details.

Among the most relevant investors in Portugal are, for example, Lone Star, which will conclude the sale of Novo Banco at the end of April, and KKR, which launched a takeover bid for Greenvolt at the end of 2023, culminating in the delisting of the energy company about a year later.

Other investments involve Goldman Sachs (€200 million in Visabeira), Aquaterra (€175 million in Alcácer do Sal), Westlake (purchase of ACI/Perplastic in Guarda, completed in 2026), Visteon (in Palmela) and UPS (hub in Leiria). IBM, AWS, Google and other technology companies also have a significant presence in the country.

In a more recent announcement, made last November—and also of a different scale—Microsoft plans to invest approximately 10 billion dollars in data centers in Sines, in partnership with Nscale.

China Invests 31% More in One Year

Following the US, the largest upward revision was seen in French investment: €1.6 billion more between June and September of last year than in the previous version, although the difference was even greater (€2.2 billion in the first quarter). With €18.8 billion invested in Portugal, France currently has the second largest stock of investment in the country, but the US is closing in. Spain, for its part, continues to lead (€30.7 billion) and revisions were minimal.

China also saw no significant revision, although the country led by Xi Jinping invested 31% more in Portugal in just one year, almost reaching Luxembourg.

The Grand Duchy, for its part, was the third largest stock of investment in Portugal at the beginning of 2024, according to the new data, but was overtaken by the US in the following quarter and by the United Kingdom at the end of that year. It ended up finishing 2025 with the fifth largest investment — not the fourth, as previously thought. The growth is significant, despite the low starting point: it went from 1.7 billion euros to 15.6 billion in seven years, that is, nine times more (834%).

Source: Jornal Económico; Credits: Harold Mendez, Unsplash.