“We have plans to continue growing in Portugal in technological areas, in software, and also in industrial sectors,” stated Fernando Silva, the non-executive chairman of Siemens Portugal, during a statement to a news agency at a luncheon conference organized by the Porto Commercial Association (ACP-CCIP).
The executive highlighted the performance of the Siemens Portugal Tech Hub, an international information technology competence center in Portugal since 2014, where the German group develops technological solutions focused on innovation and collaboration at various sites across the country.
Recalling that this area began “around 20 years ago with 10 or 15 employees,” Fernando Silva noted that it “now has 1,400 direct employees and about 400 or 500 indirect” and “continues to grow, because Portugal has proven to have a lot of talent.”
“We have centers in Lisbon, centers in Porto, and we will certainly open one or two more centers in Portugal. We aim to aggregate resources into networks that may be physically located in different places but work towards a common goal for the whole world from Portugal,” the executive explained.
Overall, Siemens employs approximately 4,200 people in Portugal, having increased its workforce by 200 to 400 annually over the last five years.
In May, Sofia Tenreiro took over as CEO of Siemens Portugal, replacing Fernando Silva, who had been holding the position alongside that of CEO of Siemens Spain since December 1, 2024, while continuing as chairman of the Portuguese division.
Although acknowledging the impact of the economic crisis in Germany on Siemens Portugal’s operations—mainly because the company’s shareholder is German, but also because Germany “is the engine of Europe, especially in the industrial sector”—Fernando Silva points to a “very positive dynamic” currently in that country.
“We see a very positive dynamic at this moment, which leads us to think that Germany will quickly return to interesting growth levels. And this will have an impact on Portugal, both in terms of imports and exports, and in leading to a stronger Europe,” he asserted.
According to the chairman of Siemens Portugal, “since the new government took office in Germany, there has been a clear intention to accelerate the change in the country’s industrial structure,” to make it increasingly competitive in critical sectors such as automotive, food and beverages, or machinery manufacturing.
In an interview, Fernando Silva also highlighted the necessity for “the rapid development of innovation in Europe,” suggesting that some of the new European regulations—such as the Data Act (data regulation, with harmonized rules to ensure equitable access to and use of data) or the AI Act (regulation on the use of Artificial Intelligence)—should “at least be delayed at this time.”
“It is necessary for deadlines to be extended, and in some cases, we even advocate their eventual cancellation. But this is for business-to-business dealings, not for business-to-consumer, because there we consider consumer protection essential as the weaker element in the entire chain,” he explained.
“Now,” he added, “when we talk about the relationship between companies in sectors where we want to introduce innovation, we cannot create additional mechanisms that will not bring added value and that will block the development of innovation in Europe.”
