President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has declared that investing in advanced technology is “a necessity rather than a choice” for Türkiye, linking the country’s economic competitiveness to faster growth in high-value manufacturing, research and technology entrepreneurship. The message, delivered at Türkiye Innovation Week in Istanbul on October 16, 2026, is also a signal to international investors: Ankara intends to direct more capital, incentives and administrative attention toward industries capable of reducing import dependence and moving Turkish exports up the value chain.
From Political Message to Industrial Policy
Erdoğan told the Turkish Exporters Assembly’s 13th Innovation Week that Türkiye aims to create 100,000 technology ventures by 2030 with a combined valuation of $100 billion. According to Anadolu Agency, he also said the former terminal buildings at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport would be converted into “Terminal Istanbul,” envisioned as a major technology and entrepreneurship center.
The announcement reinforced the 2030 Industry and Technology Strategy unveiled in March 2025. Under that strategy, Türkiye is seeking to increase high-technology exports to $30 billion by 2030, approximately three times the level recorded around the strategy’s launch, while raising total industrial exports from $247 billion in 2024 to $400 billion.
The targets reflect a long-running structural challenge. Türkiye has developed internationally competitive automotive, machinery, white-goods, defense and textile industries, but genuinely high-technology products still account for a relatively small share of manufacturing.
TurkStat’s 2025 industrial-products data showed that high-technology goods represented only 3.6 percent of the value of manufacturing production sold. Medium-high-technology products accounted for 28.8 percent, while low and medium-low technology categories together represented 67.5 percent.
The export picture tells a similar story. TurkStat reported that high-technology goods made up 3.7 percent of manufacturing exports in the first seven months of 2025. The OECD’s 2025 Economic Survey of Türkiye noted that the corresponding share was 3.8 percent in 2023, compared with an OECD average above 16 percent.
Türkiye has made greater progress when medium-high and high-technology products are combined. The Ministry of Trade said their exports rose by 10.8 percent in 2025 to more than $112 billion, equivalent to 43.5 percent of manufacturing exports. However, much of that category consists of established industries such as vehicles, machinery and electrical equipment. The policy challenge is to deepen domestic capabilities in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, batteries, biotechnology and precision electronics.
HIT-30 Establishes the Investment Framework
The principal instrument for attracting large technology projects is the High Technology Investment Program, known as HIT-30. Launched in July 2024, it envisaged more than $30 billion of support for investments in electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, renewable-energy equipment and other strategic technologies.
The initial structure included a $5 billion package intended to expand electric-vehicle production capacity to at least one million units annually and $4.5 billion for battery investments. Solar-cell projects were also offered grant support linked to installed manufacturing capacity.
Under current Ministry of Industry and Technology rules, a HIT-30 project generally requires at least TRY 2 billion in fixed investment. Eligible costs can include land, construction, machinery, equipment and research facilities. Applicants must provide ownership and management information, financing plans, production-flow details, employment and capacity estimates, domestic-content projections, market analysis and an assessment of the project’s effect on Türkiye’s current-account balance.
This process illustrates why the headline incentive value cannot be treated as an automatic subsidy. The HIT-30 Program Office first evaluates the proposal, after which suitable projects proceed through the ministry and the Presidency under project-based incentive legislation. An approved investor must then obtain an investment incentive certificate through the E-TUYS electronic system.
The wider incentive regime was revised in 2025. According to the Investment and Finance Office, it can offer combinations of VAT and customs-duty exemptions, corporate-tax reductions, social-security support, financing assistance, land allocation and support for research and employment. Priority-investment thresholds were set at TRY 500 million for high-technology projects and TRY 1 billion for medium-high-technology projects, while detailed eligibility depends on the product, location and program.
Foreign investors therefore need to determine at the market-entry stage whether a project is best structured under HIT-30, a strategic investment program, a technology incentive, a regional scheme or a technology-development zone. Selecting a site before completing that comparison can result in a materially weaker support package or create infrastructure and permitting complications later.
FDI Is Rising, but Execution Remains the Test
Türkiye’s investment data provide some support for Ankara’s technology narrative. According to the Investment and Finance Office, citing Central Bank balance-of-payments figures, the country attracted $13.1 billion of FDI in 2025, an increase of 12.2 percent from 2024.
Manufacturing received $3.02 billion, or 31 percent of the sectorally allocated inflows, while information and communication attracted $1.31 billion, or 14 percent. Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said FDI excluding real estate reached $10.7 billion, the highest level in a decade.
The figures are encouraging, but they remain modest relative to Türkiye’s industrial ambitions and financing requirements. They also include acquisitions and other capital flows that do not necessarily create new laboratories, fabrication capacity or technology-intensive employment.
Large announced projects must consequently be assessed according to construction, supplier development and production milestones. Reuters reported in March 2025 that partners of Chinese automaker Chery planned a facility in Samsun involving investment of up to $1 billion and annual capacity of 200,000 electric and hybrid vehicles. Yet Reuters reported in June 2026 that BYD had paused its planned Turkish factory, with executive vice-president Stella Li saying the company was prioritizing Hungary and another European location. Türkiye’s Industry Ministry subsequently said its investment agreement with BYD remained valid.
The episode demonstrates the distinction between attracting an announcement and securing operational FDI. Investors evaluate access to the Turkish domestic market, proximity to Europe, customs arrangements, suppliers and labor alongside financing costs, currency exposure, incentive certainty and the speed of permits. Governments, meanwhile, increasingly attach performance conditions concerning investment schedules, employment, exports and domestic sourcing.
For foreign manufacturers, government relations and regulatory liaison are therefore operational functions rather than ceremonial ones. Commitments made during incentive negotiations must be translated into land acquisition, zoning, environmental approvals, construction permits, customs procedures and auditable expenditure. Project management must track these obligations because delayed implementation can affect incentive eligibility or expose the investor to repayment claims.
Research Capacity and the Startup Pipeline
Türkiye’s technology strategy is broader than factory investment. Erdoğan said national research and development expenditure had increased from $1.2 billion in 2002 to about $20 billion. TurkStat placed 2024 gross domestic R&D expenditure at TRY 651.8 billion, approximately $20 billion, and around 1.5 percent of GDP.
That ratio remains below the levels recorded by many technology-intensive OECD economies. The OECD has also cautioned that Turkish R&D tax incentives have been more effective in supporting incremental development than transformational research, and that some public support may substitute for business spending that would have occurred anyway.
There are nevertheless commercially significant clusters in defense technology, financial technology, gaming, artificial intelligence, mobility and enterprise software. Erdoğan said Türkiye exported more than $10 billion of defense and aerospace products to 180 countries and territories in 2025. Defense is an important demonstration case because procurement, engineering capabilities and sustained public-sector demand have helped local companies progress from licensed production to more complex systems.
Venture investment provides another channel for foreign capital. KPMG Türkiye and 212 reported that the number of Turkish startup transactions increased from 331 in 2024 to 360 in 2025, although total transaction volume fell from $2.6 billion to $1.4 billion because there was no comparable mega-deal. Foreign investors participated in only 42 transactions but supplied $1.15 billion, far exceeding the $227 million attributed to domestic investors.
This dependence on international capital is both an opportunity and a vulnerability. Türkiye can produce scalable software companies with comparatively efficient engineering costs, but reaching the government’s $100 billion valuation target will require predictable exit channels, intellectual-property protection, experienced management and access to overseas customers.
International investors considering acquisitions or local R&D operations must conduct more than financial due diligence. Legal and tax compliance should cover intellectual-property ownership, employee-created software, founder vesting, transfer pricing, stock-option treatment and cross-border data flows. Türkiye’s Personal Data Protection Law imposes specific requirements on transferring personal information abroad, an important issue for cloud, artificial-intelligence, healthtech and financial-technology businesses.
Technology Policy Meets Trade and Macroeconomic Risk
Türkiye’s location remains a central advantage. It combines a large domestic market with established supply links to the European Union, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The EU customs union facilitates trade in many industrial goods, although it does not eliminate product standards, rules-of-origin questions or trade-defense exposure.
Green regulation is becoming equally important. Türkiye’s first Climate Law, enacted in July 2025, established a framework for emissions reduction, climate planning and an emissions-trading system. Export-oriented factories must also account for the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Technology investments in energy efficiency, renewable power, industrial software and low-carbon materials may therefore generate both production gains and regulatory value.
Macroeconomic conditions remain a counterweight. The IMF said inflation declined from 44.4 percent at the end of 2024 to 30.9 percent at the end of 2025, but projected 23 percent for the end of 2026 in its February assessment. The OECD’s June 2026 outlook projected growth of 3.1 percent for the year and warned that commodity prices and currency depreciation could complicate disinflation.
For an investor, this affects construction budgets, working capital, salaries and imported equipment. A project may receive customs or tax relief and still face significant foreign-exchange and financing risk. Corporate structuring, treasury planning and supplier contracts consequently need to be designed together, not handled as separate exercises.
What This Means for Foreign Investors
Erdoğan’s statement should be read as confirmation of sectoral direction, not as a guarantee that every technology project will qualify for support or achieve commercial viability. The strongest prospects are likely to combine a genuine Turkish market case with export potential, local supplier development, measurable technology transfer and a credible contribution to reducing strategic imports.
The practical starting point is a market-entry assessment covering demand, competitors, localization requirements, potential customers and alternative sites. Investors then need an incorporation and corporate-structuring model that accommodates financing, intellectual property, incentives and future profit repatriation.
Incentive work should begin before machinery is ordered or binding site commitments are made. Applications require a defensible investment budget, employment plan, domestic-content calculation and current-account impact analysis. Legal and tax compliance must then be integrated with customs, data protection, environmental rules, employment obligations and transfer pricing.
Government relations matter because major technology projects cross several authorities and may depend on project-specific decisions. Import-export facilitation is also essential where equipment, components or prototypes move through different customs classifications. Trade-fair and expo representation can help investors test customer and supplier interest before committing full capital, particularly in mobility, machinery, energy technology and defense-related supply chains.
Finally, on-the-ground project management is what turns an incentive certificate into operating capacity. Construction, permits, recruitment, supplier qualification and incentive reporting must follow a single implementation schedule. An FDI advisory firm such as fdiconsultancy.com can coordinate these market-entry, incorporation, incentives, compliance, government-relations, expo-representation, import-export and execution requirements. The investment case ultimately depends not on the scale of Türkiye’s stated ambition, but on whether each project can convert that policy momentum into a compliant, competitive and durable local operation.