John Whelan: Every penny of available Apple cash needed to back Irish AI development

Ireland can further AI innovation by making available to AI entrepreneurs key public data resources, while preserving privacy

President Michael D Higgins receives Chinese Premier Li Qiang at Áras an Uachtaráin. Mr Li told his country's AI Summit that China will organize the launch of an international body to jointly develop AI technology to prevent it from becoming “an exclusive game for a small number of countries and enterprises”. Picture: Maxwells

China’s big AI Summit, launched last week in Shanghai by Premier Li Qiang, kicked off just days after US president Donald Trump pledged that that the US will “do whatever it takes to lead the world in artificial intelligence”. 

After unveiling a so-called AI Action Plan, he went on to declare that America is the country that started the AI race, and “is going to win it”. In stark contrast, Premier Li Qiang headlined his AI Summit opening night by announcing that China will organize the launch of an international body to jointly develop the technology, with the goal of preventing it from becoming “an exclusive game for a small number of countries and enterprises”. 

Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North, Naoise Ó Cearúil, last month introduced the National Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026, which will establish a state body to oversee, enforce, and support the ethical, transparent, and innovative use of artificial intelligence in Ireland.

Speaking at Leinster House, Deputy Ó Cearúil stated: “This is the first time in our history that Ireland has a real chance to lead during a global technological revolution. While countries like the US, UK, and China are investing billions into AI, Ireland must act quickly to secure its own advantage. Not just as adopters, but as global contributors and leaders."

The Bill dovetails much more with the China Summit theme “Global solidarity in the AI era” than with Mr Trump's AI action plan to dominate and control the AI global growth.

Beijing, by comparison, likes to say their approach democratises access to AI by offering the world the ability to freely build atop its tools, and it gives local developers an edge.

The Chinese approach is much more likely to suit Ireland’s entrepreneurs as they try to develop their own range of AI products for the market, obviously to markets outside the US.

Trump’s AI Action Plan begins, correctly, with the observation, “Whoever has the largest AI ecosystem will set global AI standards and reap broad economic and military benefits.” The Plan has three core components: (1) addressing regulatory barriers, (2) building AI infrastructure, and (3) leading in AI diplomacy and security.

Tracing through the US Action Plan is the core issue of deregulation, which sits well with the mantra of the Big Tech US firms Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, who are currently dominating the international market for AI products. Altogether, the four companies are expected to spend more than $344bn (€296bn) for the year, with much of it going to the data centres necessary to run AI models.

North American tech companies led the global AI market in 2024, capturing over 37% of the total market share. But the Asia Pacific AI market is projected to grow at the fastest growth of 20% between 2025 and 2034.

The conundrum facing Ireland and its attempts to help entrepreneurs to maximise their position in the global marketplace, is the recognition that they cannot wean themselves entirely from the US but they need to focus on strategic growth areas in Europe and Asia where they can build a comparative advantage. The all-or-nothing sales pitch from Mr Trump will make it hard to find this balance and heighten concerns about our dependence on U.S. technology.

And there are other issues facing Irish AI entrepreneurs, particularly costs of data to train their AI models and the associated data centres. Big Tech in owning data centres clearly have an advantage, particularly as they are funding these out of current revenue cash flow.

But there are other costs, which put Irish AI companies at a disadvantage. Electricity costs are the second highest in Europe, adding high energy prices on to the required large scale computing costs.

Finally, AI is trained on data, and public data resources, such as media archives and healthcare data, are incredibly valuable assets that are crucial to building a resilient, sovereign AI ecosystem. Ireland can further AI innovation by identifying and responsibly making available to AI entrepreneurs key public data resources, while preserving privacy.

Every penny of the €2bn Apple money available from the EU sanctions will be needed if Ireland’s entrepreneurs are to produce AI products capable of competing in international markets, with the Big Tech behemoths.