Due to its sea connections, Hampshire is home to a number of businesses associated with this area. P&O are based out of Southampton, along with many shipping firms. The Ford Motor Company has a plant on the edge of the city, where the majority of their Transit van production takes place.

A number of major defence contractors are based in and around Portsmouth, due to the prominence of the Royal Navy, including the VT Group (contracted to build the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers.) Other non-military firms include IBM and Zurich Financial services.

Farnborough is the home of defence giant BAE Systems.