Resources
- Stay informed about BEA developments by reading The BEA Wire, signing up for BEA's email subscription service, or following @BEA_News on X.
- Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA's Interactive Data Application.
- Access BEA data by registering for BEA's Data Application Programming Interface.
- For upcoming economic indicators, see BEA's news release schedule.
- For more information about the Survey of New Foreign Investment in the United States and the statistics produced from it, see “New Foreign Direct Investment in the United States in 2023” in the Survey of Current Business, BEA’s online journal.
- Additional information on new foreign direct investment in the United States in 2024 will be published in August in the Survey.
- Additional data on the expenditures and activities of newly acquired, established, or expanded U.S. businesses are available on BEA’s website.
- More information on foreign direct investment statistics is provided in U.S. International Economic Accounts: Concepts and Methods.
- See the FAQ “What is the relationship between BEA’s new investment statistics and its other statistics on foreign direct investment in the United States?” for a comparison of BEA’s new investment statistics and its other statistics on foreign direct investment in the United States.
Definitions
Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise resident in another economy. Ownership or control of 10 percent or more of the voting securities of an entity in another economy is the threshold for separating direct investment from other types of investment.
A U.S. affiliate is a U.S. business enterprise that is at least 10 percent owned by a single foreign person or entity.
A foreign parent is the first person or entity outside the United States in a U.S. affiliate’s ownership chain that has a direct investment interest in the affiliate.
The ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) is that person or entity, proceeding up a chain of majority ownership (where the entity above owns more than 50 percent of the entity below), beginning with and including the foreign parent, that is not owned more than 50 percent by another person. Unlike the foreign parent, the UBO of an affiliate may be located in the United States.
An acquisition occurs when a foreign entity acquires a voting interest (directly, or indirectly, through an existing U.S. affiliate) of at least 10 percent in a U.S. business enterprise. Acquisitions of additional voting interest in existing U.S. affiliates in which a foreign entity already has a 10 percent voting interest are excluded.
An establishment occurs when a foreign entity, or an existing U.S. affiliate of a foreign entity, establishes a new legal entity in the United States in which the foreign entity owns 10 percent or more of the new business enterprise’s voting interest.
An expansion occurs when an existing U.S. affiliate of a foreign parent expands its operations to include a new facility where business is conducted.
Greenfield investment includes establishments and expansions.
Statistical conventions
The statistics of new investments by foreign direct investors are based on data reported in the Survey of New Foreign Direct Investment in the United States (BE–13), conducted by BEA.
The statistics include transactions resulting from corporate inversions. A corporate inversion occurs when a U.S. corporation that is currently the ultimate owner of its worldwide operations takes steps to become a subsidiary of a foreign corporation. BEA’s direct investment surveys do not collect information on whether a U.S. corporation became foreign owned as a result of a corporate inversion. Using publicly available information, such as commercial databases and press reports, BEA estimates that newly inverted U.S. corporations accounted for a significant share of first-year expenditures in 2015 but not in subsequent years. For more information on how corporate inversions affect the new investment statistics, see “ New Foreign Direct investment in the United States in 2016” in the Survey.
Related statistics
Statistics on new foreign direct investment are one part of a broader set of U.S. International Economic Accounts that, taken together, provide a comprehensive, integrated, and detailed picture of U.S. international economic activities.
Statistics on direct investment and multinational enterprises (MNEs) include annual statistics on the activities of U.S. MNEs and U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs as well as detailed annual and quarterly statistics on direct investment.
The International Investment Position (IIP) Accounts are released quarterly. The IIP is a statistical balance sheet that presents the dollar value of U.S. financial assets and liabilities with respect to foreign residents at a specific point in time.
The International Transactions Accounts (ITAs) are released quarterly. The ITAs are a statistical summary of economic activity between U.S. residents and the residents of other countries.
Statistics on international services, released annually, include detailed annual information on trade in services and on services supplied through the channel of direct investment by affiliates of MNEs.
U.S. international trade in goods and services, released by BEA and the U.S. Census Bureau, provides monthly statistics on trade in goods and services.