The analysis shows that two-thirds of foreign direct investment, excluding corporate acquisitions, were in manufacturing in 2022. That is more than double the average share from 2014 to 2021.
The surge is relatively small in the context of the overall economy. But administration officials call it an encouraging sign that multinational companies are being enticed to America by Mr. Biden’s industrial policy agenda. In the last year, the analysis notes, construction spending on new manufacturing facilities in the United States has increased significantly faster than in England, Europe or other wealthy Group of 7 nations.
Administration officials say a Commerce Department survey of new foreign investment suggests investors pouring money into America’s factories are largely concentrated in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, along with Canada, Japan and South Korea. Half of 1 percent of the investment appears to be associated with China.
That foreign investment is flowing largely to computer and electronics manufacturing, particularly of semiconductors, which were the centerpiece of a bipartisan industrial policy bill Mr. Biden signed into law in the summer of 2022. Mr. Biden also signed a climate, health and tax bill later that summer that included large new subsidies for renewable energy technology manufacturing.
Since those laws were signed, companies have announced a flurry of new planned investments in the United States. The administration tallies them at more than $500 billion. They include semiconductor plants in Arizona, advanced battery facilities in Georgia and much more. Many of the announced projects are from foreign companies, like TSMC of Taiwan.
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