Markets Germany 1/24 - REMAKING MANUFACTURING

Cover Markets Germany 1/24 | © GTAI/KammanRossi

This edition of Markets Germany is all about making things — in Germany. Doom-mongers often say that manufacturing in Europe’s largest economy has no future. The price of everything from labor to electricity is too expensive, they contend, for Germany to compete with other production locations. But recent major international expansion projects suggest otherwise.

In November, US pharmaceutical company Lilly announced that it will open a new production facility worth EUR 2.3 billion in the western German city of Alzey. Meanwhile, Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC plans to construct a massive new EUR 10 billion chipmaking facility in the eastern city of Dresden.

In fact, Germany dominates semiconductor production in Europe — it has the greatest number of chipmaking megafab projects on the continent by a wide margin. Competition between countries to woo expanding businesses remains intense — that’s to be expected — but rumors of Germany’s complete industrial demise have been greatly exaggerated.

There are many advantages to manufacturing products in the heart of Europe. Proximity to customers, a burgeoning artificial intelligence startup sector and a unique tradition of radesmanship are just a few of the arguments in Germany’s favor. So we hope this issue of our magazine makes you, our readers, think about whether you could be the next German success story, in manufacturing or otherwise.