US-Irish trade, a welcome constant during times of change
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The first half of this decade will be remembered for its volatility and the seemingly never-ending series of crises that began in its earliest days with the spread of the covid pandemic.
Followed by an unprecedented economic contraction and subsequent expansion, the War in Ukraine brought on a inflation crisis as domestically Ireland aims to address long-standing infrastructural deficits, most notably in housing.
However, through all of this a notable and positive constant has been the consistent levels of foreign direct investment. Companies continue to establish new bases, research centres, European offices and manufacturing facilities in Ireland.
Once again investment and partnerships across the Atlantic have dominated. US firms continue to see Ireland as the gateway to Europe, their first step as they seek out new global markets.
Data from the IDA back this up. The organisation reported an increase in the number of investments into Ireland during 2023 totalling 248 and which are expected to deliver almost 19,000 jobs to the economy. A third of investments won, 83, were greenfield or first-time investments.
Today the State body has more than 1,800 client companies within its portfolio employing 300,583. This is the second year the job number has been above 300,000, accounting for 11.3% of the national workforce.
Last year, Job growth from FDI was recorded across all other sectors, underscoring the diversity of the new partnerships.
Looking to the future the optimism remains. Despite the current economic pressures which include a global environment of high interest rates and elevate inflation, 60% of American Chamber member companies said they expect the number of employees in the Irish operations of their organisation to increase over the next 12 months, with 33% expecting to maintain current employee number.
91% said their corporate headquarters continue to have a positive view of Ireland as an investment or growth location. However, a larger majority, 98%, said that reaching 100% capacity Ireland’s airports and ports is a concern for continued growth and investment.
As has been seen in the past, success begets success. The positive experience by so many companies with a presence in Ireland will lead to further growth in investment.
Some of the significant announcements made last year by US firms in Ireland include:
In March, global alternative investment management firm, Millennium Management opened a new office at Central Quay in Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2 with plans to expand their local headcount. The offices has seats for 100 people, more than double their current headcount. The New York headquartered firm has been hiring finance and technology talent in Dublin with experience in cloud engineering, security engineering, infrastructure technology, corporate technology, accounting services and fund accounting. Millennium first started operating in Dublin in 2018 with an office in St. Stephen’s Green and has now relocated to Central Quay.
Californian headquartered robotics company, Bear Robotics, announced plans in March to establish a European hub in Dublin. The hub will create 25 jobs in the next 3 years, including roles in sales, software engineers, finance, and operations. The company’s flagship products, Servi and Servi Plus, are fully autonomous service robots that assists staff by alleviating repetitive work like running orders and bussing tables. These products are popping up in a variety of hospitality businesses such as restaurants, corporate campuses, hotels, senior living facilities, and casinos around the world. Their European hub will serve customers across the continent and help expand the company’s global footprint.
Productivity platform ClickUp opened its EMEA headquarters in Dublin in 2021 but quickly exceeded capacity following a European expansion the following year.
In March the San Diego headquartered firm opened their new offices that will bring together ClickUp’s sales, success, support, and solutions engineering teams. ClickUp's EMEA team is made up of about 200 people, with 75 of these employees based in Ireland. The company expects to hire hundreds more members across various departments by the end of 2025.
US AdTech firm Kargo announced in March it had picked Waterford for its first European R&D hub creating 25 data science and software engineering jobs over the next three years.
It now employs approximately 500 people across 11 global sites. The Waterford team will seek to develop proprietary IP in applied machine learning and process automation in the open web cookieless digital advertising industry.
One of the most established global pharmaceutical companies in Ireland, Eli Lilly announced in March its to increase investment to nearly $1bn at its new biologics drug substance manufacturing facility, in Limerick. The company previously announced a $500m investment. Construction of the new 500,000 sq. ft. facility is ongoing at IDA’s Business Park in Raheen and is expected to create more than 300 highly skilled jobs across areas including engineering, scientists, and operations. Eli Lilly first established in Ireland in in 1978 and currently employs more than 2,700 people in Cork where it has a large manufacturing campus in Kinsale as well as a Global Business Solutions Centre in Little Island.
Dallas company SupportNinja established a new centre of excellence in Cork and expects to create 50 jobs over the next three years. Founded in 2015, the firm helps fast-growing companies scale by connecting them with global talent to support them with outsourced services. The company employs almost 3,000 people across its locations in the US, the Philippines, Romania and Ireland.
In April, Californian company Workday opened ‘Dockline,’ its second office in Ireland. The 80,000 square foot premises will accommodate the Finance and HR firm’s EMEA functions such as finance, sales, support and HR, while the engineering and development teams will remain at the existing Workday office in Smithfield. It currently employs over 1,800 people in Ireland, representing approximately 70 nationalities.
The Chicago-headquartered firm G2 announced its fifth location would be in Dublin as the firm seeks to expand in Europe. The software company had already recruited new team members in Dublin across sales, marketing, revenue strategy and operations roles. It plans to continue growing its headcount to meet customer demand in EMEA.
Dexcom In May, the San Diego-headquartered med-tech firm Dexcom announced plans to build its newest global manufacturing facility in Athenry, Galway. The project is supported by IDA Ireland and represents an investment of €300m over five years and the potential to create up to 1,000 high skilled jobs over the same period. The company produces systems that help people gain greater control of their diabetes.
In May, the essential oils producer doTerra opened its Cork manufacturing , the first of its kind in the world outside its global headquarters in Utah. The facility serves as the company’s European manufacturing headquarters, distributing products to the European marketplace and increasing capacity for other international markets including the Middle East and Africa. The facility employs 65 staff and producing 10,000,000 bottles of essential oil each year. As production increases, the company will grow its staff in quality control, supply chain management, finance, legal, and HR, with the ability to increase to 100 team members over time.
Cybersecurity firm Centripetal opened its Galway based European Cyber Intelligence Centre of Excellence to address cybersecurity opportunities in the UK, Ireland and across Europe. The Virginia company has plans to create 50 jobs in Ireland.
Logistics firm Wesco International announced in September that it was expanding its operations in Ireland to include a new Digital Centre of Excellence to be located in Dublin. The company will serve as a development centre for new cloud-based digital systems and solutions as part of the company’s overall digital transformation strategy. Wesco expects employment at WDS Ireland to total nearly 80 positions in the coming years.
Hewlett Packard announced in October that it would create more than 150 new technical roles at its Global Center of Excellence in Galway. The new center is integral to the development of the HPE GreenLake platform, which is the central offering for HPE’s Hybrid Cloud solutions. HPE GreenLake supports 27,000 customers globally, powers more than 3.4 million connected devices and manages 20 exabytes of data with customers worldwide.
In October, the Meissner Corporation marked the opening of its new 3,900 m2 manufacturing facility in Mayo. The facility has been producing therapeutic manufacturing systems for Meissner’s pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical client base since March of 2020. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Camarillo, California, the company operates globally and supports clients worldwide. The company recently played a leading role in the industry’s response to the covid pandemic, providing critical products that enabled the development, manufacture, and distribution of numerous lifesaving therapeutics and vaccines.
Illinois company Sterling Engineering announced in October that it plans to create 50 jobs in Galway with the establishment of its EMEA HQ in the city. Sterling is a provider of outsourced engineering services for manufacturing companies across medical technologies, life science, automotive, food and beverage industries. It was founded in Chicago in 1969.
Texas company HID, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions opened its Logistics Center in Shannon in October.
The new facility is HID’s second largest Logistics Center, supporting 55 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The new 4,157 m2 Logistics Center is double the size of HID’s previous facility and employs 60 people with a goal of expanding headcount in the years to come.
In November, the San Diego-headquartered tech giant Qualcomm announced a $127m expansion of its research and facility in Cork City. The investment is expected to create more than 150 highly skilled engineering roles over the next four years. The expansion of facilities will see hardware and software research teams co-locate in the Cork facility.
One of the world’s largest telecommunications firms, Verizon Communications announced the establishment of a Global Centre of Excellence in Limerick in December. The company has been active in Ireland since 2006, currently employing 1,000 highly skilled professionals in Dublin. The new centre in Limerick will lead to the creation of more than 400 jobs.