Bosch, a company with over 6,000 workers in Portugal, says 2025 will be extremely challenging due to tight profits, strong competition, and a highly alarming distrust of tech in Europe.
The German company saw a small 2% sales increase to €91 billion, but their profit margin dropped to 1.9% from 3.5% in 2024 because of a difficult economy. Just a little over a month ago, Bosch declared they would be laying off 13,000 employees worldwide, with 87 of those in Portugal, where they own two plants and had roughly 2,500 workers on furlough.
President Stefan Hartung said, Our results show the economic truth – 2025 was hard and, at times, a painful year for Bosch. He cautioned that Europe could become less competitive if doubt toward technology keeps slowing things down.
Hartung noted that Bosch will keep using its global reach, brand, and tech skills, but he cautioned that competition and price wars will likely get worse, and tariffs will affect the company this year. Bosch expects their 2030 Strategy to improve profits, but they don't think they'll hit their 7% profit margin target before 2027.
The company also asked European leaders to level the playing field and push for new tech like hydrogen and AI. Bosch pointed out that they are a tech leader, having filed over 2,000 AI patents since 2018, and urged the public and businesses to boldly embrace new technologies.
As of December 31, 2025, Bosch had about 412,400 employees worldwide, which is 5,400 fewer than the year before.
Hartung finished by saying, The only way for a country or society to win in global competition is to want to push tech progress forward. Europe has a lot of potential, but only if it can get over its hesitation.
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