2025-26 saw the biggest increase in foreign investment in Wales since 2020-21, with 75 foreign investment projects creating more than 1,500 jobs.
Statistics released by the UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade show an increase for the second year in a row in the number of foreign investments coming to Wales, alongside a rise in the number of jobs created or protected.
The UK Government is investing in two AI Growth Zones, two Investment Zones for North and South Wales, and the Anglesey and Celtic Freeports. Taken together these projects are supported by more than £380 million in UK Government funding and are designed to build on Wales’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, clean energy and life sciences, it said.
The recently-signed Defence Growth Deal for Wales, backed by a further £50 million of UK Government funding, also cements Wales as a leader in autonomous defence technology, it added.
Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said:
“These latest figures show that Wales is punching above its weight. The UK Government is backing the industries of the future in Wales and creating the right conditions to attract yet more investment.
“This has been a driving motivation behind our new initiative, Brand Wales, which is designed to attract inward investment and promote Wales as a brilliant place to do business.
“We want to ensure that the economic opportunities offered by Wales sit at the forefront of the minds of global investors.”
Welsh Government Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, Adam Price, said:
“Inward investment can play a crucial part in our goal to half the productivity gap with the rest of the UK.
“It’s encouraging to see Wales bucking the trend as the only part of the UK to see an increase in inward investment projects.
“But to meet our productivity goal we need to ensure that investment creates resilient and well-paid jobs and contributes to the long-term competitiveness and performance of the Welsh economy.
“Inward investment should strengthen Welsh firms, deepen supply chains, support priority economic platforms, increase exports, bring technology or management capability into Wales, and help retain more value in the Welsh economy.
“A new Welsh innovation and development agency will lead our approach to inward investment and make Wales the easiest place in the UK for investors to say yes.
“Above all, investment must deliver for the people of Wales and lead to higher productivity and shared prosperity.”
