News Release -
Tánaiste announces €50 Million investment in Intel R&D capability in Shannon
Major expansion could create 134 new jobs at Shannon Free Zone
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Ms. Mary Coughlan T.D., today, Friday 27th February 2009, announced that Intel will invest over €50 million in a major expansion, supported by Government through Shannon Development, at its Research and Development facility in the Shannon Free Zone in Co. Clare. The investment could grow Intel’s Shannon workforce by up to 134 new jobs over the next 4 years, bringing the total employment to approximately 300.
Congratulating Intel on their investment the Tánaiste said, “Knowledge is now the key to competitive advantage in smart economies. Growing the level of R&D investment by new and existing multinationals in Ireland is a key Government priority. Today’s investment announcement by Intel gives very real meaning to our ambition to develop Ireland’s smart economy, and is a wonderful testament to the highly talented skills base at Intel Shannon.”
Welcoming the announcement Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive Shannon Development said, “This major investment at the Shannon Free Zone is a further vote of confidence in Shannon as a competitive location for high tech knowledge based investment on a global scale. Intel is one of our premier clients and today’s announcement is another chapter in what is a fast developing high tech success story for the Shannon Region. We are delighted to have secured this expansion for Shannon, in collaboration with IDA Ireland.”
“We are delighted with the expansion decision”, commented Jonathan Walsh, General Manager of Intel Shannon. “It comes as the result of our world class track record of R&D over the last eight years, the highly developed technical marketing competencies and also our success in attracting the highest quality research talent, domestically and internationally. This further enables Intel to deliver products that show a significant leap over competing products, providing an outstanding combination of performance, power efficiency, savings and cost-effectiveness. The leading edge 32 nanometre design capabilities being developed in Shannon, are key to Intel supporting the unprecedented growth in the market for embedded processors. Intel predicts that there will be 15 billion connected devices by the year 2015. Our continued growth will be fuelled by the availability of top class engineering graduate and post-graduate students” he continued. “This further investment in the Intel Embedded Lab Europe in Shannon advances research and innovation in Europe and allows us to collaborate with customers and universities to improve overall European competitiveness. Intel Shannon is a key member of the Intel Labs Europe network”.
The Intel investment will involve two separate R&D projects. The first is a new hardware project involving Advanced 32nm Silicon Design and Validation, which aims to enable the next generation of products and provide small to medium sized businesses with a combination of improved performance, power efficiency, footprint savings and cost effectiveness. It will deliver a new chip with a significantly improved design for embedded applications. The second project is a software development project, extending Intel® QuickAssist Technology, to address price and power consumption constraints while delivering compelling performance. When these software products come on stream they will have a range of benefits for segments such as automotive and security.
Jim OHara (General Manager, Intel Ireland and Vice President Technology Manufacturing Group) commenting on the expansion said “It is a source of great satisfaction for me to see how the Shannon team, working with our manufacturing facility in Leixlip, has been gearing itself up to take on ever increasing challenges and responsibilities for more of the development process”. “Yes, we are facing significant challenges in the global economic environment, ” he said, “However, it is important to recognise that we have weathered cyclical slowdowns before, most notably at the beginning of this decade with the fall-out from the ICT shock, just as the Shannon operation came into existence. In our highly competitive and rapidly changing global markets, success is hard earned, establishing a high performing team with strong technical, managerial and leadership skills is critical to being able to build new products that lead in the marketplace. This makes a genuine contribution to the advancement of Ireland and of Ireland in Europe”.
Vincent Cunnane-CEO Shannon Development,Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Ms. Mary Coughlan T.D, Jonathan Walsh -GM Intel Shannon and Jim O Hara-GM Intel Ireland pictured in Intel, Shannon on Friday where the Tanaiste announced that Intel will invest over €50 million in a major expansion, supported by Government through Shannon Development, at its Research and Development facility in the Shannon Free Zone in Clare. The Investment could grow Intel's Shannon workforce by up to 134 new jobs over the next 4 years, bringing the total employment to approximately 300.
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