Foreign companies established in Catalonia have reached a total of 9,155, the highest figure in the historical series of multinationals with a presence in the territory, according to a report prepared by Acció. The list has recently been completed by technology companies such as Cisco and its first European chip design center in Ca L'Alier, investments by Lenovo and Intel in the BSC, or that of the American company MPS in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. There have also been companies from the automotive sector, with the South Korean ILJIN, and from the health sector, with the new rare diseases hub of AstraZeneca, the digital center of the Swiss Ypsomed, and Veeva, specialized in software development for the pharmaceutical industry.
The dynamism observed with the various announcements in recent months also means that the subsidiaries in Catalonia have surpassed those present before the pandemic, when there were 8,908 (2019). Consequently, Acció is working with a portfolio of 613 foreign investment projects, also the highest figure in the historical series and 56% more than in 2020. Half of the projects being evaluated are industrial, while 40% are companies not yet present in the autonomous community.
Company Typology
Among the more than 9,000 multinationals established in Catalonia, which represent 18.5% of employment, most are located in the regions of Barcelonès (60.8%), Vallès Occidental (11.2%), and Baix Llobregat (10.6%). Micro-enterprises predominate (42.6%), ahead of small companies (29.1%), medium-sized companies (19.8%), and large companies (8.5%). Companies older than 20 years (33%) and those created less than 5 years ago (23%) also stand out.
Regarding sectors, in absolute terms, the main protagonists are infrastructure and construction, with almost 2,000 companies representing 13.1% of the total. They are followed by ICT and Industry 4.0 companies, with 897, or 9.8%, and machinery and equipment goods companies, with 658, or 7.2%.
According to turnover, food is the sector with the highest revenue, with 35,856 million euros, 13.1% of the total; energy, with 27,605 million euros, 10.1%; and automotive, with 23,825 million euros, 8.7%. The subsidiaries with the highest turnover are Seat, from the Volkswagen group, Cemex, Nestlé, Bayer, Basf, Novartis, HP, Lear, Dow, Schneider Electric, Danone, Boehringer Ingelheim, Torraspapel, Essity, Bimbo, Henkel, Alstom, LyondellBasell, ABB, and Roche.
Foreign companies largely come from Europe (74%), with a total of 6,783. Behind them are those from North America (15%) and Asia (8%). Compared to 2019, the study indicates that those from North and South America have grown. By country, France, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy are the most common and represent 57.7% of the total.