“The production value of the Hungarian automotive industry could reach 10 trillion forints (EUR 30 billion) within a year”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Cegléd at the foundation stone laying ceremony of international company Infineon Technologies’ new production plant.

At the ceremony, Mr. Szijjártó told reporters that the government is providing 6.4 billion forints (EUR 19 million) in funding towards the new investment project in Cegléd, which will be creating 275 new jobs, adding that the government is providing non-returnable funding towards the company’s total investment of 32 billion forints (EUR 95.5 million).

The Minister explained that the success of the Hungarian economy depends on to what extent the investments of the new automotive industry era that is built on electromobility arrive in Hungary, adding that it is evident that more and more major automotive industry companies are choosing Hungary as their investment destination. “Development projects realised within the field of electromobility have contributed to a major extend to enable us to break a new investment record every single year for the past five years”, he said.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hungary’s competitiveness is proven by the fact that it is ranked 92nd in the world with relation to its population, but is in nineteenth place in the automotive industry exports world rankings.

He added that over the past five years 46 major investment projects have come to Pest County as a result of to the government’s investment promotion policy, thanks to which 8360 new workplaces have been created with a total investment of some 500 billion forints (EUR 1.42 billion).

The Minister spoke about the fact that the latest investment on the part of Infineon Technologies will be contributing to enabling the company, which is market leader in several areas within the field of the development and production of industrially applied semiconductors, to reinforce its position on the global market.

“Hungary can be proud of the fact that the company chose Hungary as the site of its new plant in view of the fact that it is present in a total of 35 countries worldwide”, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó explained that the electronics industry succeeded in increasing its performance by 11 percent during last year, achieving a total production value of 5100 billion forints (EUR 15.2 bn), and the sector succeeded in increasing its performance by a further 8 percent during the first half of this year, while providing jobs to 145 thousand people in Hungary.

According to a statement issued by Infineon Technologies Cegléd Limited, the company has been present in Hungary for 25 years. Until now it has been manufacturing performance modules up to a voltage class of 3500 Volts, which are used in areas such as green energy and industrial automation. The construction of the new plant will increase the number of people employed by the company to almost 1600, with production beginning at the end of 2021.

According to publicly available company data, in the business year from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018 Infineon Technologies Cegléd Ltd. achieved a net sales turnover of 13.078 billion forints (EUR 38.8 million), a year-on-year increase of some 2.48 billion forints (EUR 7.4 million). The company posted 286.9 million forints in after tax profits in the 2018 business year, compared to 427 million in the previous year.

(MTI)