Chinese smartphone maker Huawei will invest €150m to establish its first European cloud hub in Dublin.
The company said the opening of the facility would result in the creation of 60 jobs in the next two years and 200 jobs by 2027 across sales, pre-sales, legal, tax, operational, management and research positions.
The hub will provide cloud services across Europe and host a cloud platforms designed for growth and development that Huawei described as "compliant, innovative, and sustainable". The investment is supported by the government through IDA Ireland.
Tony Yangxu, CEO of Huawei Ireland, said: "We see Ireland as a strategically important location for the global deployment of Huawei Cloud.
"The new offering will be based on stable, reliable, secure, compliant, innovative, and sustainable cloud services customised to meet the needs of various Irish and European customers, but particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises.
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"It offers innovative Irish and European enterprises the opportunity to access new markets and potentially reach global customers. Digitalisation represents the biggest opportunity for all industries over the next decade, and it is set to supercharge the cloud sector.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said the announcement was welcome and demonstrated Huawei's ongoing commitment to Ireland.
"Huawei is expanding its portfolio of services in Ireland with this investment, which will substantially enhance our thriving technology ecosystem. I wish Huawei continued success in developing its presence here," he added.
Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, said: "Huawei’s latest expansion further positions Ireland as an important hub for its European and global operations, and is clear evidence of the company’s continued commitment to this country.
"Its decision to choose Ireland as its European Operation Centre for cloud services is another endorsement of our strong business-friendly environment and digital ecosystem.
"These new services leverage Huawei’s industry-leading technology and R&D expertise, and are testament to the strength of Ireland’s offering including our extremely strong talent pool.”
Huawei Cloud will offer cloud credits, technical support and access to international venture-capital networks to help speed up digitalisation and support expansion into global and Asian markets for Irish SMEs. It also plans to facilitate Asian and Chinese enterprises in increasing investment in Ireland.
Speaking about the regional strategies of Huawei Cloud, Tim Tao, president of Huawei Cloud West European region commented: "In Europe, Huawei Cloud is committed to building the cloud foundation for an intelligent world with ubiquitous cloud and pervasive intelligence.
"We will continuously innovate and work with our customers, partners, and developers with a mindset of 'Think cloud native, act cloud native,' building an all-digital, all-cloud, AI-driven world with everything as a service.”
Huawei has made a concerted push into cloud, launching the Huawei Cloud Developer Programme targeting Saas and independent software vendors last year and investing $100m in cloud resources, technical support, and business promotion.
Photo: (l-r) Tim Tao, Leo Varadkar, IDA Ireland's Eileen Sharpe, and Tony Yangxu. (Pic: Conor McCabe Photography)
