Security and hi-tech: Thales Group to strengthen its presence in Cholet

The global leader in defense electronics Thales Group has a center in Cholet, Atlantic France. Used for key projects, the industrial site is getting too small. Thales will therefore move to new premises by 2024 and the company is planning to recruit many more employees.

Thales has been situated in Cholet since 1936: the site is the group’s oldest establishment in France among 70 of them. 

Present in 68 countries with 80,000 employees, the company’s promise is to “build a future we can all trust“. Thales specialises in electronics and services for five sectors: aerospace, space, ground transportation, digital identity and security, defence and security.

Moving to a new 20-hectare industrial site by 2024

Thales recently announced that the group was acquiring more than 20 hectares (around 50 acres) of land. It is located close to the current site in Cholet, next to the A87 which connects to Angers, the top European hub for electronics and IoT. 

The company also revealed that moving to this new site will allow between 400 and 500 additional employees to be recruited, bringing the workforce to more than 2,000 people by 2024. 

In Cholet, developing the military radio of the future

Since 2016, the Thales site in Cholet has become the group’s center of excellence in France for electronic communication warfare solutions. 

In September 2019, a new production line was opened for the CONTACT programme, a key contract which includes the development, production and support of secure military radio communications systems for the French armed forces.

Earlier in 2019, Thales succeeded in acquiring the Dutch company Gemalto, the world’s leading manufacturer of SIM cards, making the group a global leader in digital identity and security.