Profit at Amazon's main Irish subsidiary more than tripled last year, but the company cut staff numbers by more than 300 after some research and development activity was moved to another part of the group.

Amazon Data Services Ireland Ltd, which operates data centres and provides web hosting for the tech giant's various arms, saw profit after tax jump from €15.9m to €51.5m year-on-year, with the company paying some €15.7m in tax.

The firm employed an average of 1,313 people in 2021, but ended the year with 1,432, down significantly from the 1,747 staff it had in 2020.

Around a quarter of staff work in management, with the remainder in operations, and the company directors are site lead Alan Judge; James Moloney, Amazon Web Services (AWS) director of infrastructure operations for EMEA, and AWS EMEA finance director Niamh Barrett.

Amazon Data Services said that administrative expenses, a "key performance indicator" that rose from €2.6bn to €3.6bn year-on-year, increased in line with expectations due to rising data centre operational expenses, with lease payments of €1.8bn.

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Rising costs were partially offset by the reduced headcount, with R&D activity being transferred to another group undertaking on 1 October.

Turnover at the company rose from €2.6bn to €3.7bn, and firm held net assets of €2.4bn at the end of the financial year. Director emoluments totalled €501,000 while overall staff costs fell from €214.6m to €138.4m. .

During the year, Amazon Data Services also took full ownership of Bay Farms Ltd, which held land in Co Dublin close to where several Amazon data centres are located.

The accounts note that Amazon Data Services' ultimate parent is Amazon Inc and that it is a subsidiary of Luxembourg-headquartered Amazon EU SarL.

Photo: The entrance to Amazon's Shannon Building on Burlington Road in Dublin. (Pic: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)