The world has entered a new investment race focused on investments in strategic sectors, including artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, critical minerals and energy transition technologies. This assessment was made by Nan Lee Collins, Director of the Investment and Entrepreneurship Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), at the presentation of the organization’s annual report on global investment trends.
“The numbers are impressive: since 2020, the value of announced projects in these sectors has increased more than fivefold, from USD 109 billion to USD 576 billion, representing almost half of all global greenfield projects“, she said.
As Collins noted, “the new investment race is simultaneously becoming a race to concentrate investments“, with them concentrated “in a small number of countries with significant potential“. Specifically, the three leading investor countries account for approximately 70% of investments in strategic sectors, but their composition varies depending on the sector. For example, the United States is a leader in artificial intelligence infrastructure, while China is a leader in projects related to critical minerals. Overall, the main centers of attraction of investments in these sectors are the United States, China, the European Union, the Republic of Korea and Japan, the UNCTAD representative specified.