• According to InvestChile Director, Karla Flores, the positive results in the investment project portfolio are due to the agency’s efforts in collaboration with various ministries, together with the ongoing interest and trust of foreign companies in developing and expanding their projects in Chile.

Chile’s foreign investment promotion agency, InvestChile, ended 2023 with a project portfolio of US$33.5 billion, including 450 initiatives in different stages of development. The project portfolio grew 18.2% compared to the end of 2022 (US$28.3 billion).

Of that total, US$14.7 billion is related to ongoing investment (initiatives in the development and commissioning process in Chile), with the 103 projects in this stage generating 5,936 permanent jobs.

According to InvestChile Director, Karla Flores, the positive results are due to the agency’s efforts in collaboration with various ministries, both in Santiago and through its six investment attaché offices around the world. This has enabled it to strengthen Chile’s position as an attractive investment destination in key sectors, generate interest among foreign companies, and continue to strengthen trust-based relationships with the country through specialized technical support in its evaluation of greenfield, expansion, or reinvestment projects and the assistance provided to companies in the process of developing and commissioning their projects in Chile.

“Chile is an attractive country with investment opportunities related to the energy transition and climate change mitigation, which have aroused and rekindled the interest of foreign companies. For that reason, our work in 2023 was largely focused on actively promoting these opportunities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, together with the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Transport, and Ministry of Mining. Today, Chile is synonymous with clean energy and critical minerals for the energy transition, but also technological infrastructure and knowledge-based services exports for companies. Similarly, thanks to its macroeconomic stability, the strength of its institutions, and the general conditions for business development, our traditional sectors also continue to bolster the country’s development,” said Flores.

“On a global level, preliminary figures from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) show only a moderate increase of 3% in foreign investment in 2023. During the last year, there were considerable levels of global uncertainty and high interest rates that impacted cross-border transactions. For that reason, the competition to attract investment was especially challenging. These results demonstrate the importance of public-private partnerships with a view to boosting Chile’s growth and our efforts in that regard not only as an agency, but also as a country,” noted Flores.

Investments by sectors and countries

Investments by foreign companies supported by InvestChile are concentrated primarily in three sectors: energy, with US$15.9 billion; mining, with US$8.2 billion; and global services, with US$5.9 billion. The amount of investment projects in the energy and mining sectors grew by 38% and 57% respectively compared to 2022.

“Chile has consolidated its position as one of the most attractive countries for investing in clean energy, and is consistently ranked highly in global indexes such as BloombergNEF’s Climatescope. This is reflected in our portfolio, which was led by energy sector projects related primarily to solar and wind power,” explained Flores.

With regard to the source of the foreign investment that forms part of InvestChile’s portfolio, companies from the United States generated the highest investment, at US$9.9 billion, followed by Canadian companies with US$5.3 billion, and Chinese companies with US$4.3 billion. The amount of investment from the United States and Canada increased by 21% and 90% respectively compared to the end of the previous year.

“United States companies reaffirmed their interest in developing technological infrastructure in Chile during 2023, with the construction of new data centers or expansion of their coverage network. Additionally, we saw an increase in their interest in energy projects. In the last year alone, 44 new energy projects were incorporated into our portfolio, enabling us to close the year with 50 energy projects being developed by United States companies with a value of US$6.5 billion,” Flores added.

InvestChile’s director also highlighted the growing interest of Brazilian companies in investing in Chile. Brazil was the only South American countries among the top ten in terms of investment in InvestChile’s portfolio, and was the fourth largest country globally with projects valued at US$2.2 billion.