Foreign firms’ share of Georgia investment falls in record year overall

As Georgia marks a record year with $26.3 billion in pledged investment, the share of the total coming from international companies has decreased in comparison to recent years. 

Of the 23,200 new private-sector jobs announced by companies in the state in the year ended June 30, some 6,500 (about 28 percent) came from companies headquartered in places like Canada, South Korea and Japan, the top three, according to a news release from Gov. Brian Kemp‘s office.

That’s a far lower share than two years ago, when foreign investors accounted for nearly half of new jobs announced and two-thirds of foreign investment in capital terms. 

Those prior years do seem to have been outliers when it comes to FDI, with massive investments from Hyundai Motor Group in fiscal 2022 and related suppliers for its so-called Metaplant continuing to arrive in 2023, contributing to South Korea’s emergence as the top investor nation during those years. 

Without Hyundai, for instance, fiscal 2022 would have seen $3 billion in announced foreign investment, driven by other projects such as Korean solar panel maker Qcells, Norway’s Freyr Battery, Finland’s ADMARES, a modular housing producer. That total is roughly the same as what the state saw announced in fiscal 2025. 

The Georgia Department of Economic Development points out that international projects, meanwhile, are up. More than a quarter of the 423 projects the state worked on this year involved international companies: 115, up from 114 last year and just 76 in 2022.

Most of those were expansions: About two-thirds of the new international investment in the state, about $3 billion, came from existing investors like Canada’s Irving Tissue, which committed another $600 million to its facility in Macon, adding 100 new jobs. 

In metro Atlanta, Germany’s Mercedes-Benz said it would double down on its Sandy Springs headquarters, hiring 500 more people and teasing a separate R&D center somewhere else in the region.

“Our stable, reliable business climate gives companies the confidence to plan for the long term,” said Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, in a news release. “Whether a company is new to Georgia or already here, domestic or international, the question is no longer if they’ll expand in Georgia – but when.”

Expansions, which perennially account for most new jobs, made up three-quarters of the 423 projects. The companies that expanded already accounted for 50,000 jobs in the state, which is one reason the state pulls out som many stops to lure major projects.

Greenfield projects also emerged, such as Greenbox Systems’ $144 million automated warehouse in Butts County with backing from Japan’s SoftBank, as well as beauty company Kiss USA’s fulfillment center in Bryan County. Those two projects have promised 300 and 395 jobs, respectively. 

All this said, the state’s Global Commerce figures come with an important caveat: While many of the announced expansion projects are well underway, most are multi-year projects that don’t commence hiring and production until years into the future. 

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. 

A few high-profile examples of late include Freyr’s decision to pull the plug on its $2.6 billion plant in Newnan, Sungeel Hi-Tech’s reconsidering of a Toccoa recycling facility, and Aspen Aerogels’ move to source from China rather than a new $325 million plant in Georgia. All three of those projects faced difficulty as the market tightened for electric vehicles, a signature priority of Mr. Kemp’s strategy that has been under threat as the Trump administration has pulled back on electric-vehicle incentives.  

The state does not announce when prior pledges don’t come through, but it does have some recourse in recouping taxpayer funding expended in wooing new projects. Money for site preparation may be already spent, but states and communities can use “clawback” provisions to recoup some tax incentives calculated on the baseline level of jobs and capital investment.