US tech firm to create 60 Irish jobs

US technology company Xilinx is to create 60 jobs in Cork and Dublin as part of a $50m (€40m) investment.

The company, which makes programmable semiconductor microchips and related programming software, said it will recruit 45 senior silicon and electronics engineering staff.

Of those, 20 will be added to the company’s current complement of seven staff in its engineering centre in Cork. The rest will be based at its regional headquarters in Dublin. A further 15 staff will be hired across “a broad range of disciplines supporting the continued growth of Xilinx in Ireland”.

The company, which started its Irish operations in 1995, currently employs more than 250 people at its Dublin headquarters, where it operates a research, development, engineering, and IT centre, along with centralised supply, finance, legal and HR functions.

Announcing the investment by Xilinx, Jobs and Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton said “deepening and developing the impact of foreign direct investment here” is central to the Government’s plan for jobs and growth.

“We must not only seek to attract more investment and jobs from top multinational companies; we must also strive to ensure that more of them are carrying out strategic, high-value activities here based on research and development,” he said. “The announcement that Xilinx is making a further multi-million euro investment in Ireland, with the creation of high-value engineering jobs, is very welcome, and is a testament to the staff already here as well to Ireland’s international offering.”

Xilinx said the investment and immediate recruitment “will support the company’s high-level development work for advanced technologies and products where the Irish arm already works in tandem with Xilinx’s Programmable Platforms Group at corporate headquarters in the United States.”

Kevin Cooney, managing director of Xilinx in Europe, said: “We’re very pleased with this investment, which endorses the quality of advanced engineering and product development work being undertaken by Xilinx Ireland where everyone is an important contributor to the global success of the corporation.

“This expansion will provide a range of valuable career development opportunities for experienced engineers, as we continue to fulfil our strategic development responsibilities in Ireland.”

Xilinx describes itself as the world’s leading provider of “All Programmable” technologies and devices, with $2.2bn in revenues in the fiscal year 2012 and a near 50% market share in the programmable logic device market.