The UAE attracted USD $98.4B worth of greenfield FDI projects announcements from 2021 to 2025. Emirates NBD released the report on the YoY UAE greenfield surge today.
Greenfield investments are a type of investment where a firm builds its operations in a foreign country from scratch, investing vast sums of capital to construct new facilities than acquiring existing physical capital.
Steady Upwards Trajectory of Greenfield FDI Inflows, UAE (2021-2025)
Source: fDiMarkets, Emirates NBD Research
The trajectory demonstrates an upwards shift in Greenfield FDI since 2021-2025 with investments across projects surging from USD $10, 000M (2021) to USD $30, 000M (2025).
India was the leading source of greenfield FDI contributing USD $12.58B across 275 projects, with the U.S. second in capital investment (USD $10.3B).
The landmark Erisha E Mobility smart manufacturing hub in Ras Al-Khaimah is the product of Indian FDI whilst Microsoft invested USD $5.5B in the Stargate AI campus in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi.
Greenfield FDI by Capital per UAE City (2025)
Source: fDiMarkets, Emirates NBD Research
Ras Al-Khaimah emerged as the largest recipient by capita, drawing USD $10.61B across 17 projects, placing the city 6th globally in capital FDI inflows. Smart manufacturing from the Indian company, Erisha E Mobility led the boost.
The UAE ranked second globally in the number of announced greenfield FDI projects with 1491 projects. The number of companies investing in the UAE almost tripled from 491 in 2021 to 1,440 in 2025.
The UAE ranked third globally as a source of greenfield FDI capital in 2025, with USD 109.23bn worth of project announcements.
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