It is said that the last time similar results were recorded was in 2017 when German manufacturing giants such as Hella and Continental entered Lithuania.
Six manufacturing projects have been approved for 2023, 5 of which are expansions of existing companies. Systemair, a ventilation and air-conditioning equipment manufacturer, is expanding its factory in Ukmergė and plans to create around 260 new jobs. Kormotech, a Ukrainian pet food producer, plans to expand its production in Kėdainiai and recruit 200 more specialists, while Brikers, a Latvian company, is constructing a new plant near Vievis.
Last year, there was the approval of 2 projects in the life sciences. One is the healthcare products company Hollister Lietuva, which continued to expand its team in Kaunas after investing €23.6 million in cutting-edge production technologies.
International industrial companies are building factories in Lithuania and opening business service centres. Mouser Electronics, a global distributor of semiconductors and electronic components and a subsidiary of TTI, the electronics company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment company, is opening a European customer service centre in Vilnius.
Despite global macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, inflation, and mass layoffs in large technology companies, Lithuania has managed to maintain foreign technology companies' interest in business development opportunities in the country. In 2023, Lithuania won 31 FDI projects in the technology sector.
The financial technology (fintech) sector continues to dominate, with 9 companies choosing Lithuania for their operations or expansion: Swiss payment service provider Wallee and UK platform Airwallex announced their expansion, B2B payment solutions provider Hokodo announced its plans to set up a payment services centre in Lithuania, Bulgarian fintech unicorn Payhawk also entered Lithuania, and Saldo Bank launched its banking operations in Lithuania. Global consultancy Guidehouse will also play an essential role in the Lithuanian financial market, hiring 300 more anti-money laundering specialists over the next three years.
Last year was most notable for the expansion of technology companies' functions and business in Lithuania. For example, e-commerce platform Boozt decided to expand its software division, mobile app developer Zedge is also expanding its team in Vilnius, and foreign companies Drager (Quadigi) and OAG have announced plans to expand in both Vilnius and Kaunas.
French IT company Devoteam is also expanding in Kaunas, hiring highly qualified specialists for its main cloud services centre. Johnson Matthey, the UK's leader in sustainable technologies, has also discovered multilingual Lithuanian talent and will employ nearly 200 specialists in a global service centre to be set up in Vilnius.
In addition to the usual functions of technology and fintech companies, areas of particular importance to the country, such as cyber security, are gaining momentum. Examples include the decision by Palantir Technologies, one of the leading companies in data processing and artificial intelligence solutions, to set up a regional big data analytics centre in Lithuania and a strategic agreement with the Ministry of National Defence.
