Noting that 2025 will be a year in which "good news" related to high-tech investments will be announced, a top official said Wednesday the first phase would be an investment package of over $2 billion (TL 71.54 billion).
"Hopefully, we will announce the first phase next month, an investment package of over $2 billion. We will increase Türkiye's high-tech production and export capacity with great momentum in 2025," Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır said.
Stating that 2024 was a successful year in terms of the country's industrial and technological journey, Kacır said that many projects that are a source of pride in terms of the National Technology Initiative, from human-crewed space science missions to the Türksat 6A satellite, had met the world stage.
He drew attention to the fact that these are also indicators of the level that Türkiye's capabilities have reached, and said: "Türkiye is now a country that has broken out of its shell and has gained the opportunity and capability to carry out the most ambitious high-tech projects with its own means."
Emphasizing that they will accelerate in the field of high technology this year, Kacır stated that new production investments and new technology initiatives will rise simultaneously.
As he elaborated on the future goals, he also pointed out that Türkiye has increased its industrial production the most among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the last 22 years.
"We have reached the stage of bringing nearly $7 billion of investment to Türkiye. Hopefully, we will announce the first phase of this, an investment package of over $2 billion, next month," Kacır told an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA).
"We will increase Türkiye's high-tech production and export capacity with great momentum in 2025," he added. "We are a real production base. Our goal is to take these production capabilities to the next level with higher value-added products and investments in high-tech fields," Kacır said.
"Hopefully, 2025 will be a year in which Türkiye meets with investments faster in areas such as electric vehicles, batteries, solar cells, wind turbines, chip production, R&D centers and biotechnology, industrial robots and hyper-scale data centers with our new calls; and (that) we announce the good news of high-tech investments to our nation one after another," he explained.
Emphasizing that they attracted BYD's new generation electric vehicle investment to Türkiye and that they are following the investment process very closely, Kacır reiterated that production would start in 2026.
Last year, the leading Chinese EV maker, BYD, agreed on a $1 billion investment in Türkiye to establish production in the western Manisa province.
Kacır, meanwhile, stated that they would continue the efforts to attract automotive investments to Türkiye, underscoring the importance of carrying R&D and innovation studies within the country.
"There are some investments that we have reached the final stage and are continuing the final stages in terms of location selection. It is important for us to attract global investments to our country," the minister noted.
"We want 'Leading brands in technology to choose Türkiye as an investment location, conduct R&D, production and export from Türkiye to the world.' We brought the BYD investment to Türkiye with this understanding. We are also negotiating with Chery and other similar brands with this understanding. It is our priority to plan all these investments to create added value in Türkiye and ensure that R&D and innovation studies are carried out in Türkiye," he said.
Furthermore, the minister also touched upon domestic EV maker Togg, mentioning it is "number one" in its class in Türkiye and revealing the fastback model of the vehicle would meet buyers this year.
Togg will start pre-orders of the fully electric fastback sedan T10F after April, the company's chairperson of the board said last week in Davos.
Kacır also said that they aim to increase Togg's competitive power with the gains they will make in electric vehicle, battery and autonomous vehicle technologies in the coming years.
Referring to expectations that cars will be used autonomously to a large extent in the coming period, he said: "These are the areas where Togg needs to strengthen in terms of competition. We are preparing Togg for the future."
He also said that the number of Toggs on the roads exceeded 50,000 last year.
The minister also evaluated other priorities, including those in the R&D ecosystem, as well as recent announcements of development plans for southeastern and central regions in the country.
"We do not have the luxury of leaving any of our sectors behind or losing them. While we are making high-tech breakthroughs on the one hand, we will continue on our path in 2025 with an understanding that we protect all sectors and carry development to all cities and regions of the country at a regional level," he said.
