Global IT centre to create up to 100 jobs

Up to 100 jobs are being created in Cork with the official opening of a global technology centre which will develop wireless technology solutions.

Richard Bruton, the jobs and enterprise minister, opened the Qualcomm centre in Mahon in Cork City yesterday.

Qualcomm is also in discussions with IDA Ireland on the potential establishment in Cork of a research and development centre for security and encryption through Qualcomm Mobile and Computing, a business unit of Qualcomm Technologies.

Mr Bruton said jobs are being created in the private sector “but the challenge now is to build on and accelerate that trend”.

Qualcomm is one of the world leaders in 3G, 4G, and next-gen wireless technologies. It also produces the Snapdragon processor found in many smartphones.

The Qualcomm centre will be based at the Citygate complex in Mahon, already home to SolarWinds, McAfee, Big Fish Games, and Dell.

Jobseekers were told: “Qualcomm is looking to grow its Irish workforce with the addition of IT staff who will support Qualcomm’s global operations teams worldwide in the delivery of best-in-class IT solutions.”

The company employs more than 26,000 people in 188 worldwide locations, and last year recorded revenues of $19.1bn.

There are currently 21 Cork job positions advertised on Qualcomm’s website.

The jobs include IT engineers, security managers, network engineers, and database administrators.

It is expected the global IT solutions centre will grow over the coming years, eventually increasing its staff to several hundred.

Headquartered in San Diego, the company also has an Irish office at the East Point Business Park in Dublin.