europe

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/50044307

I can't help thinking that the timing of telling everybody that Ireland is heavily reliant on US Big-Tech as they take over EU Presidency is not a coincidence.

Ireland has the potential to lose 94,000 jobs and €11 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the economy by 2030 if data centre development is constrained, while the country’s competitiveness as a digital hub would slip, new research has found. A new report from the Department of Enterprise and KPMG detailing the research is set to go to cabinet this week. It underscores the importance of data centres for the major multinationals headquartered in Ireland and found if this infrastructure was restricted, roughly €1.6 billion in employment related tax revenues would also be lost annually.

It said data centres were critical to Ireland’s digital sectors, supporting ICT, finance, health, transport, retail, and professional services and noted that up to €104 billion in GVA and 876,000 jobs could depend on data centre capacity located here. Data centres act as a magnet for foreign investment, with over €15 billion invested and a strong pipeline of future projects. However, without sufficient capacity for this infrastructure, the country will be at risk of slower productivity growth, job and investment displacement and weakened ability to attract high-tech foreign investment.

Electricity demand

A separate KPMG report from February cited Dublin as the host of Europe’s second largest data centre cluster, with a reported 1,150 megawatt (MW) in operation, just short of London. While this heaps additional pressure on the national grid, the government report stated that it’s important to recognise that countries such as Germany and the UK have large heavy-industry bases driving their electricity demand. Ireland’s industrial electricity use is concentrated in supporting our digital economy, this is our core industry, the report outlined.

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