International Investment Doubles From Prior Year, Helping Push Georgia Past Records

10/08/2026

Trevor Williams https://www.globalatlanta.com

Ficep executives break ground on a new headquarters in Forsyth County.

International investment capital committed to Georgia doubled during the latest fiscal year, underscoring the key role foreign capital continues to play in the state’s growth story.

After a slower fiscal 2025, the global segment surged to $7.8 billion as companies committed to create 9,350 jobs across the state in the year ended June 2026. 

That amounts to more than 22 percent of the total capital investments unveiled during the year — which stood at $35.2 billion overall across 436 projects worked by the Georgia Department of Economic Development— and more than one-third (about 37 percent) of the new jobs committed, which tallied to 25,300, according to the state. 

In 2025, expansion was a major trend across all domestic and foreign projects. While the bulk of new jobs and capital investments almost always come from existing customers, this year that proportion was nearly 80 percent, a slightly heavier reliance than in 2025. Gov. Brian Kemp said these companies offer the “greatest vote of confidence” in the state’s No. 1 business climate, an honor Georgia netted for the 13th straight year in September. 

Korea, Italy, Belgium, Canada and France were among the top source markets, some posting significant expansions with others boasting greenfield projects that helped drive foreign-fueled job-creation figures higher. 

On the expansion side, Hyundai continued to invest in the Meta Plant, pledging another $2.7 billion in the months after a fateful ICE raid on its joint-venture battery facility with LG threw its relationship with the state into question.

Georgia also saw some transformative wins with completely new international investments, some heavier on capital, others on jobs. Belgium’s UCB committed $2 billion with some 330 jobs to Gwinnett County, while France’s Socomec pledged nearly the same number, 300, on an investment of some $10 million into a Gwinnett facility. Italy’s Ficep Group landed in Forsyth County, building a $20 million plant from the ground up that will assemble steel-making machinery.  

That means that as market conditions and company plans change, the actual number of jobs created and capital deployed may not necessarily match up with initial pledges. 

Some mega projects announced with great fanfare never come to fruition, like Freyr Battery’s $2.7 billion plant, which was canceled last fiscal year. Projects from previous years, like Anovion’s synthetic graphite factory in Bainbridge and Finnish firm Admares’s $750 million plant in Waycross, were announced years ago but have yet to materialize as market conditions have shifted since the time of the announcement. 

Still, the state continues to prioritize its international ties as long-term relationships continue to pay dividends, especially as the average project value grows, Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said in a release. Manufacturing accounted for two-thirds of the new announcements, with automotive, life sciences and food processing leading the way, and foreign projects have traditionally been heavily weighted toward manufacturing. 

“Georgia’s more than 50 years of representation in global markets means we have built relationships and earned the trust that allows us to meet companies where they are today and be part of their plans for tomorrow. We are grateful to the companies that continue to make Georgia their home, and to Governor Kemp, the General Assembly, and our economic development partners across the state who work every day to turn investment into opportunity for Georgians,” Mr. Wilson said.