Data center construction boom in Ireland
US server On January 23, it was reported that Zhang Zhewei, the director of the Irish Investment Development Authority in China, said recently in Beijing that because Ireland has unique advantages in high-speed network construction, construction and maintenance costs, data protection policies, preferential tax rates, talent reserves and other aspects, many large international technology enterprises have invested in the construction of data centers in Ireland in recent years, And this trend is warming up.
It is reported that information and communication has always been the core industry with the most international competitiveness in Ireland. So far, the top ten Internet companies in the United States have settled in Ireland, nine of the top ten software companies in the world and three of the top six game publishers have entered the European market through Ireland. Among them, data center is one of the most popular fields. Microsoft recently built the latest data center in Dublin, Ireland, and Facebook will also invest $200 million to build a data center in Ireland. Last year, technology companies such as Google and Apple also invested in large-scale data center projects in Ireland. In addition, companies such as Amazon and Vodafone have also invested heavily in establishing a European data center in Ireland.
Zhang Zhewei said, "Big data cloud computing is a hot spot in the development of the global technology industry. Ireland stands out as a strategic highland for industry development with its unique geographical advantages, talent reserves, scientific research investment and government support. In the past few years, many international leading technology companies have invested in building data centers in Ireland and carried out big data research and development analysis activities."
Ireland is a transit point from North America to Europe. The growth rate of Irish data hosting center is up to 18% every year, and the average annual growth rate of network traffic is up to 200%. At present, Ireland has two submarine optical cables connecting the United States, at least 11 submarine cables connecting all parts of the United Kingdom, and connecting Europe, Africa and the Middle East to the east via Verizon, Level 3 and other international telecom operators. These network infrastructures ensure that the data center in Ireland can help enterprises achieve automatic failover: assuming network interruption occurs in the United States, the Irish data center can continue to provide corresponding services.
At the same time, Ireland's preferential tax rate to encourage R&D is also attractive for technology enterprises with intensive innovation activities. Since January 1, 2016, the Irish government has officially launched the "knowledge development box" policy, which applies a preferential tax rate of 6.25% to the intellectual property profits generated by R&D activities in Ireland. It complements 12.5% corporate basic tax rate, 25% R&D tax credit and intangible asset investment tax relief, and encourages Irish local enterprises and foreign investors to actively carry out R&D innovation activities.
In addition, there are also many factors that encourage technology enterprises to establish data centers in Ireland: the construction cost is at a low level in Europe, which is nearly 30% lower than that of high cost countries; The demand for power maintenance in the data center is huge, while the pricing of electricity in Ireland is lower than the average level in Europe; Since the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulations in 2015, the number of data protection officers of the Irish Data Protection Commission has doubled, and data protection is strictly compliant; The reserve level of engineering oriented talents is in the forefront of developed countries; The temperature throughout the year is pleasant with few natural disasters, which also helps the operation and maintenance of the data center.
The Irish Investment Development Authority is a non-profit official institution of the government to attract foreign investment. It promotes foreign direct investment in Ireland through professional consulting and value-added services, and helps investors establish or expand business in Ireland.
