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Fincantieri, the chief executive of Fincantieri, Europe’s largest shipbuilder, is urging European countries to expand their underwater defense capabilities amid growing threats and US setbacks.
“The Mediterranean Sea has always been home to Russian and American submarines. It’s now up to the US Europeans to take responsibility for our underwater defense,” Pieroberto Forgiero told the Financial Times.
“If European countries spend more on defense, we should spend better,” he added.
Last week, Italian state shipyards announced that its underwater sector, focusing on submarines, communication systems and self-driving vehicles, is projecting an underwater sector that will reach 820 million euros in 2027 over the next two years, equivalent to 8% of the group’s current revenue.
We expect the global underwater economy to increase 50 billion euros per year as the country invests more in underwater defense and security.
Following the 2022 attack on the Nodstream Pipeline, the government is expanding its underwater defense capabilities, including unmanned drone systems and anti-submarine technology.
Folgiero said the threat of attacks on submarine cables and other critical marine infrastructures is likely to increase, and demand for technologies and infrastructure that can prevent or minimize the impact of attacks will likely rise significantly.
“After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the Baltic Sea has been attracting attention, but the Mediterranean is twice as large as the Baltic Sea, and it is a critical time from a geopolitical perspective,” he said.
“This is why we are betting on underwater defense and technology and increasing our industrial capabilities.”
Fincantieri’s share price rose to 15 euros per share last week after saying it would expand its underwater division.
It also announced a partnership with Italian technology group Graal Tech to develop an autonomous underwater vehicle.
“Underwater is one of the long term catalysts from the key medium of (Finacantieri’s) equity story,” said Antonio Gianfrancesco, an analyst at Investment Bank Intermonte.
Last year, the company, which specializes in both military and civilian shipbuilding, announced a 415 million euro contract with defense group Leonardo to take over the WASS submarine division. In 2023, I bought Remazel, an Italian engineering company focused on the manufacture of offshore equipment.
Fincantieri, who failed attempts to merge with the French choir amid concerns of French opposition and EU competition, has experienced strong growth since the pandemic, although he has failed attempts to merge with the Atlantic choir. There are shipyards all over the world, including the US, and global orders are surged.
Last week, it said revenue for the first quarter of 2025 rose 35% compared to last year to 2.37 billion euros. The value of the order backlog reached a record 57.6 billion euros or seven times the annual revenue in 2024.
