Cabinet set to approve €100m expansion of Tyndall Institute with new UCC research facility

Government sources told the Irish Examiner that the project marks a major step forward in Ireland’s ambition to grow "Silicon Island”.

Mr Lawless will seek Cabinet approval for an expansion of the Tyndall National Institute, valued at over €100 million.

It is understood that the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will provide most of the State funding required for the expansion project.

This investment will be supported by contributions from the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and the Department of Public Expenditure, as well as funding from UCC’s own resources.

It will deliver a new 17,500m² advanced research facility in Cork, which one Government source stated will “significantly boost” Ireland’s capacity in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum and advanced manufacturing.

They also suggested that it would “strengthen” Ireland’s research infrastructure under the INSPIRE Programme, and “support collaboration with more than 200 industry partners”.

The project is nearing the final stages in the tendering process, with UCC approval expected in February. It is anticipated that contracts will be signed before this summer.

It is expected that the new €100m facility will double the physical size and footprint of the Tyndall Institute’s existing facilities.

UCC previously indicated that the proposed facility would accommodate an additional 250 post-graduate students and 750 staff members.

UCC and the Tyndall Institute were granted planning permission in December 2023 to redevelop the Distillery Fields site at Cork’s North Mall into a purpose-built research facility.

Last May, enterprise minister Peter Burke announced that over €70 million in national and EU funding had been ringfenced for Tyndall’s participation in three EU pilot projects, including one examining “accelerating the development of advanced semiconductor technologies”.

The Tyndall National Institute is a partnership between UCC, the Science Foundation of Ireland, and the Department of Enterprise.

Its areas of research include compound semiconductors, wafer-scale and chip technologies, health and wellbeing, communications, packaging and integration, environmental sensing and energy, and compound semiconductors.