Ireland will see inward investment from data centres top €10bn by 2022, according to a report from Host In Ireland and Bitpower.

Inward investment from data centres has tripled over the past four years, bringing average annual spend to €1.3bn each year. The new report predicts that the sector will have brought over €10bn in investment by 2022, underpinning more than 100,000 jobs in the ICT sector.

The Q1 report also highlights the positive impact investment in data centre infrastructure has brought to Ireland, particularly around assisting it in attracting leading tech companies here.

Garry Connolly, CEO of Host In Ireland, said that Ireland’s ability to provide the data infrastructure required by some of the largest companies in the world has meant that computer-service-related exports now top €69bn.

“The ability to send, receive and store vast amounts of information as quickly and efficiently as possible, all being energised by green/renewable sources, is key to Ireland retaining its competitive advantage in the tech industry,” Connolly continued.

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“The demand for data globally only continues to grow and investment will continue so far as that trend lasts.”

Figures from construction consultants Mitchell McDermott reveal over half of the spend in data centre construction over the past 12 months was spent on equipment used to provide power and cooling, with one-fifth spent on creating the building shell and architectural services.

There are now 53 active data centres in Ireland, with 29 currently in development. Sixteen new data halls came online in 2018.

Dublin, currently Europe’s largest data centre market, is now home to four of the leading five ‘hyperscales’ active in the European market, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook.

Led by Garry Connolly, Host in Ireland comprises 22 data hosting partners that collaborate to promote Ireland as the data hosting centre of Europe.