Chinese investment in Europe hit a seven-year high of €16.8 billion (US$19.5 billion) in 2025, driven by a strong rebound in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and record greenfield completions, a new report has found.But the annual study, published on Tuesday by Rhodium Group and the Mercator Institute for China Studies, cautioned that the pipeline may be thinning, with newly announced projects falling under pressure from Beijing’s push to retain industrial capacity at home and Europe’s growing regulatory barriers.Chinese foreign direct investment in Europe – including the United Kingdom – rose 67 per cent year on year in 2025, as China’s investors increasingly focused on the region. Europe’s share of China’s total global FDI jumped from 17 per cent to nearly a quarter, according to the two think tanks.M&A activity drove the rebound, rising 89 per cent year on year to €7.9 billion, while greenfield investment hit a record €8.9 billion, retaining its position as the primary channel for Chinese investment in the region.Hungary remained the most popular European destination for Chinese FDI last year, attracting €3.9 billion of investment, but the nation is starting to lose its commanding lead over traditional strongholds such as Germany and France, the study found.Several Chinese electric car and battery giants launched multibillion-euro factory projects in Hungary earlier this decade, but no similar deals were announced in 2025 and Budapest’s share of China’s FDI in Europe shrank to 23 per cent from 32 per cent in 2024.Meanwhile, Berlin and Paris caught up at a stunning speed. Completed Chinese FDI in Germany almost tripled to €2.5 billion and quadrupled in France to €1.9 billion. Europe’s traditional “big three” economies – France, Germany and the UK – saw their combined share of Chinese investment leap from 23 per cent to 34 per cent in 2025.