“The German-owned Infineon Technologies Group will be realising a 32-billion-forint (EUR 98.7 million) investment at its plant in Cegléd; the investment project will create 275 new jobs, and is another important station for Hungary in the strengthening of its electromobility-based automotive industry”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference on Friday in Budapest.

The Minister highlighted that in view of the importance of the investment, and since the development project is facilitating the dimensional transition of the Hungarian economy, the Government is providing 6.4 billion forints (EUR 19.7 million) in non-returnable funding to the company. Mr. Szijjártó told the press that thanks to the investment project Infineon is creating a plant in Cegléd in which semiconductors will be manufactured for the inverters used in electric and hybrid vehicles.

“The significance of the investment is indicated by the fact that while the German company group is present in 134 countries worldwide, it has chosen Hungary as the location for further expansion”, declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who thanked the company’s directors and the Hungarian workers in the Cegléd plant for the decision.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, Infineon’s new investment is further reinforcing Hungarian-German economic relations. “Germany is already the number one investor in Hungary, and 29 percent of all foreign investment arriving in Hungary comes from Germany”, he added.

German enterprises provide jobs for 300 thousand people in Hungary, he continued, adding that 91 major German investments with a total value of 1800 billion forints (EUR 5.55bn) have arrived in Hungary over the past five years, creating 25 thousand new jobs.

With relation to this, Mr. Szijjártó noted that this year’s report by American investment magazine Site Selection lists Hungary as one of the world’s ten most attractive investment destinations. “The backbone of the Hungarian economy is provided by sectors of industry that are dictating the tempo of the modern industrial revolution, and primarily by the automotive industry. The automotive industry provides 29 percent of Hungary’s total processing industry output, employing 177 thousand people, and the competitiveness of the sector is indicated by the fact that 91 percent of the automotive industry products and services produced in Hungary go to export. The annual production value of the Hungarian automotive industry will soon hit 10 trillion forints (EUR 30.8bn)”, the Minister told reporters.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, the investment decisions of the recent period confirm the fact that Hungary will also remain a determining stakeholder of both the European and global automotive industries in the new era concerned with electromobility. As an example, he cited the fact that since last summer the motors of Audi’s electric vehicles are being manufactured in Hungary. Vice-President of Infineon Technologies AG and member of the supervisory board of Infineon Technologies Cegléd Ltd. Jörg Spiegel told the press: “The company is creating an electromobility plant in Cegléd, where it currently employs 1300 people, in view of the fact that over the next five years we expect major expansion within this sector”. He highlighted the fact that through electromobility, the automotive industry can contribute to climate protection.

According to publicly available company data, in the business year from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018 Infineon Technologies Cegléd Ltd. realised 13.078 billion forints (EUR 40.3 million) in net turnover, an increase of 2.48 billion forints compared to the previous year. The company posted 286.9 million forints in after tax profits in the 2018 business year, compared to 427 million forints in the previous year.

(MTI)