Taiwanese producer of electric components Yageo signed on April 18 an agreement with North Macedonia’s authorities to invest €205mn in the free industrial zones in the country, where it plans to create 3,900 jobs over the next ten years, the government in Skopje announced.

This will be the largest greenfield investment in the country since it declared independence in 1991.

The deal was signed in Taipei between the director of the Directorate for Technological-Industrial Development Zones (TIRZ) Jovan Despotovski, and the top executives of Yageo.

Yageo plans to produce spare parts and components for electric vehicles, as well as sophisticated equipment for green technologies, and carry out development and research projects in cooperation with Macedonian universities.

Two production facilities will be built in Skopje, the first in July next year. In the second stage of the investment project the company plans to build a factory in the eastern town of Stip, broadcaster Telma reported.

The positive experiences from Kemet Electronics, which was bought in 2020 and officially taken over by Yageo last year, were one of the reasons North Macedonia was chosen as an investment destination among several countries in the region.

“With the new concept of encouraging investments, we managed to put our country quite high on the map of investment destinations that have the capacity to realize high-quality investments for the benefit of the country and its citizens,” PM Dimitar Kovacevski said.

Yageo is one of the largest suppliers of parts and electronics for the automotive industry, electronic components for new green technologies, 5G telecommunications, medicine and defense. It has 49 production facilities and 20 research and development centres on three continents.

Meanwhile, export activities by companies from industrial zones in North Macedonia have also shown significant growth.

TIRZ announced recently that the exports in the first quarter of 2023 reached €951.6mn, which is the highest level in the past five years. This represents an increase of nearly 12% compared to the same period last year and a remarkable growth of over 22% compared to 2021.

Compared to the first quarter of 2020, export activity has increased by an impressive 59%, by 37% compared to 2019, and by 72% compared to 2018. This growth indicates the industry's resilience and adaptability, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic and ongoing supply chain disruptions.