Multinational firms to create 300 jobs
Cork city is set to get a boost of 200 jobs in the new year when a NASDAQ- quoted software company worth almost $2.4 billion (€1.8bn) sets up a major European hub in the city.
Extensive evaluations of competing sites throughout Europe have been completed and it is understood the company, whose share price has almost doubled in the last 12 months, is on the cusp of naming Cork as its European HQ in the new year. The IDA and the company have remained silent on the impending announcement.
However, the Irish Examiner has established that the company, with almost 100,000 customers worldwide, has a “touchdown” team in place in the city at a site close to the National Software Centre in Mahon.
The team is evaluating office space large enough to cater for several hundred employees in the city and its environs and is conducting initial interviews with prospective employees.
It is understood that it is all systems go for the project, with an announcement on the NASDAQ stock exchange expected in the new year.
The US company has been particularly impressed with the number of hi-tech companies established in and around Cork and believes a viable technology hub, centred on UCC and CIT, is already in place.
The quality, attitude, ambition and expectations of graduates being produced in the region is seen as a major factor in the company deciding to establish a significant presence in Cork.
The US company, which is focusing on cloud computing solutions for major enterprises, believes access to Europe through Cork Airport is of sufficient quality to enable the planned location of its European HQ in the region.
The cash-rich company, with more than 3,000 employees, has a history of acquisition and growth and is a prize catch for the IDA, which has been striving to keep news of the development under wraps until everything is finalised.
Meanwhile the IDA’s minister in charge, Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Minister Batt O’Keeffe, is expected to announce over 100 jobs in Hewlett Packard (HP) in Galway today.
The new highly skilled jobs are in the Global Information Technology organisation which supports the firm’s Enterprise Business unit.
It is understood the jobs in HP’s Ballybrit campus will be in software engineering, testing and application development.
Two multi-year projects are underway in HP Galway and the firm is seeking technologists and managers to fill the positions.
HP employs more than 4,000 workers in Kildare, Dublin, Galway and Belfast.
