Mexico Climbs Kearney’s FDI Confidence Index: Nearshoring Helps, but Certainty Is What Matters

Mexico rose to 19th place in Kearney’s 2026 ranking, an advance linked to nearshoring, though regulatory and infrastructure challenges remain.

Mexico improved its position in Kearney’s 2026 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, jumping six spots to rank 19th among the 25 economies most attractive to global capital. The result is based on a survey of 500 international investors conducted at the start of the year and reflects a shift in perceptions about the country’s ability to attract new projects, amid a global environment shaped by geopolitical tensions, stronger industrial protectionism, and supply-chain realignments.

The rise comes as North America continues to stand out as a magnet for investment: the United States and Canada held onto the top spots in the index, with Japan and China also near the top of the ranking. For Mexico, that’s meaningful because it confirms that the “regional factor”—production integration, USMCA rules, and cross-border logistics—remains a differentiator versus other emerging markets, even as competition for new plants, data centers, and advanced manufacturing has intensified.

In Kearney’s view, Mexico stands out for its industrial policy and for the nearshoring and reshoring narrative: companies looking to manufacture closer to end consumers or reduce reliance on long, risky routes. Added to that is North America’s supply-chain integration and the availability of critical infrastructure to move goods and sustain operations—energy, water, and local services that, when they work, speed up investment decisions.

Investors surveyed cite the ease of doing business, access to talent and labor, economic performance, and access to natural resources as key factors in deciding to invest in Mexico, with technological innovation and governance coming under increasing scrutiny. At the same time, the index reports that Mexico recorded FDI inflows of $40.87 billion in 2025—one of the highest levels in its history—supported by reinvested earnings and expansion announcements in manufacturing, logistics, and services.

Nearshoring: A Structural Opportunity with Visible Bottlenecks

Mexico’s nearshoring opportunity isn’t limited to attracting new plants; it also involves raising regional content, developing local suppliers, and strengthening logistics infrastructure to reduce costs. In practice, the challenge is that incoming projects are concentrated in certain industrial corridors—mainly in the north and the Bajío—and that puts pressure on local capacity: electricity supply, water access, permits, housing, and worker mobility. These factors can determine whether investment materializes on time and on budget—or shifts to other destinations. With interest rates still relatively high and capital decisions more selective, the speed of government execution and coordination with the private sector become central to “country competitiveness.”

Kearney also emphasizes that to keep moving up, Mexico needs to strengthen investment enablers: greater technological innovation, regulatory improvements, and stronger domestic performance. That points to productivity challenges the country has carried for years, as well as the need to train talent in critical areas (automation, industrial software, cybersecurity, metrology, and quality) if the goal is to attract higher value-added projects—not just expansions of existing capacity.

A recurring theme among investors is legal certainty and the protection of property rights as a condition for committing capital over long time horizons. In the Mexican economy, where much of FDI is decided with 10- to 20-year horizons, regulatory predictability—from municipal permits to sector-specific rules—can weigh as heavily as labor costs or proximity to the U.S. market. Public-private collaboration and regional integration show up, in this sense, as levers to unlock investment in infrastructure, industrial parks, customs facilities, and connectivity.

By sector, the index identifies telecommunications, aerospace and defense, transportation, primary goods, information technologies, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, heavy industry, and financial services as especially attractive. The underlying message is that the portfolio of investor interest is diversifying: beyond traditional manufacturing, demand is growing for digital services and knowledge-intensive activities, which could raise wages and local spillovers if the country succeeds in linking them to domestic suppliers and training institutions.

Overall, the move up in Kearney’s ranking suggests Mexico still holds an important place in the global investment conversation, supported by North American integration and the boost from nearshoring. At the same time, the country faces an execution test: turning confidence into concrete, sustainable projects will depend on infrastructure, efficient regulation, and long-term certainty for investors.