Earlier this week, 80 Irish high-tech construction companies and suppliers took part in Europe’s premier data centre event in Amsterdam. With Enterprise Ireland participating as a gold partner, the Kickstart conference provided the companies with an opportunity to showcase their advanced technologies and solutions to industry leaders from across Europe.
Many of these companies are already recognised as leaders in the delivery of hyperscale data centres and sophisticated digital infrastructure in Europe. According to Enterprise Ireland head of high tech construction markets Fergus McMahon, that success story has its origins almost 40 years ago when Intel chose Ireland as the location for its first semiconductor manufacturing facility in Europe.
“That was pivotal,” he says. “That was a global, highly sophisticated technology manufacturer taking a bet on Ireland. They bet that Ireland would be able to deliver what at the time was the world’s most advanced semiconductor fab unit. Throughout the 1990s, we had the construction of complex pharmaceutical plants and then, in the early 2000s, in parallel to those two industries, we had the buildout of data centre infrastructure.
“The experience built up in delivering those facilities over the past 20 or 30 years resulted in the development of a very sophisticated high-tech ecosystem that delivers world class facilities to produce world leading drugs and advanced semiconductors as well as world class data centres.”
RM Block
The industry has internationalised in recent years, he adds. “In the last decade, that expertise has travelled internationally, most notably in data centre delivery where a number of our big general contractors, mechanical engineering [firms] and the supply base behind them are now working in partnership with large data centre providers across Europe. Ireland now has a reputation for being a delivery hub for very large, very sophisticated data centres. A lot of the innovation employed in the design and delivery of those data centres has come out of Ireland.”
He attributes that success to customer centricity and reliability. “They’re very attuned to the demands of those sophisticated customers; they are highly compliant, highly certified and have a very, very strong reputation for delivering on time and on budget.”
That success has translated into impressive export earnings. “We’ve seen a significant jump year on year on the level of exports that these businesses have delivered,” says McMahon. “It’s gone from less than €2 billion six years ago to close to €5 billion in 2024.” The 2025 figure is expected to show another significant jump, he adds.
While the Nordics, Benelux, Germany, Italy and Spain are among the main markets for the industry, the UK will also be important for future growth, says McMahon. “It’s our biggest market but it sometimes gets forgotten. It’s 13 times the size of the Irish economy. We believe specialist Irish companies are very well placed to deliver in key areas like public infrastructure, water infrastructure and data centres.”
Innovation is critically important, he emphasises. “We are working closely with these companies and their supply chains to support them on their innovation journey in terms of R&D supports. The growth in the sophistication of data centres means new technologies are going to be needed to deliver them. Many of these companies are investing heavily in R&D and we’re trying to help de-risk that through our innovation supports.”
Enterprise Ireland also helps to de-risk market entry. “We have a network of offices across Europe and we work very closely with clients in the high-tech construction ecosystem to help them embed in local markets as seamlessly as possible, making sure they’re speaking to the right representatives, and that they’re compliant with all the local regulations.”
Another key area of Enterprise Ireland support is in off-site construction. “A lot of work has been done on modern methods of construction in the residential housing side, but where that originally came from was the high tech construction industry where we have very sophisticated companies delivering really complex equipment, power, plumbing, electrical equipment that’s shipped all over Europe to new facilities,” he explains. “We’re supporting companies to make sure that they’ve invested in the latest capital equipment to deliver those products across Europe.”
The overall aim is to maintain the industry’s competitive advantage. “It is eye-opening the level of expertise that’s been developed by the Irish industry, not just in terms of manufacturing, but logistics and the ability to work to multinational timelines,” says McMahon. “Whereas if clients are sourcing locally, the local industry doesn’t have that degree of experience and it takes a long time to catch up. Those multinational data centre hyperscalers are very time poor and they are going to pay a premium to get the specialist contractors that can guarantee they’ll deliver because the cost of not delivering is really high.
“The challenge now is to ensure the Irish industry stays innovative and ahead of the curve,” he continues. “We are encouraging our client companies to double down on innovation and continuously push the bar on that while adopting an international approach.”
