Europe's "Silicon Valley" is booming in Irish data centers
In 2015, which country will have the fastest economic growth in Europe? Not Germany and France, which were once regarded as the engines of Europe, nor the United Kingdom, which is troubled by whether to raise interest rates or hold a referendum. In Ireland, one of the "Five European Pig Countries".
According to data released by the Irish Central Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2015, Ireland's total GDP was 49.21 billion euros, an increase of 6.6% over the same period last year; in the second quarter, the total GDP was 50.131 billion euros, an increase of 6.6% over the same period last year. An increase of 1.9%, an increase of 7.3% over the same period last year; the third quarter still maintained growth momentum, with a GDP growth rate of 7%.
Although Ireland's GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter of last year has not yet been announced, Ireland's central statistics predict that Ireland's GDP growth in 2015 is expected to remain at a year-on-year level of 7.0%, which is 3% of the EU average. More than times.
This means that Ireland, a country that required an 85 billion euro bailout in 2010, is on track.
The maintenance of high economic growth in Ireland is inseparable from the government's measures to attract foreign investment.
As the Irish government’s promotion agency for attracting foreign investment, the Irish Investment Development Authority has also been active in the Chinese market in recent years.
At present, the Irish Investment Development Authority has set up offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen to helpHelp Chinese companies enter Ireland.
Xu Linye, an official from the Irish Investment Development Authority, said that in the past, Ireland's overseas markets mainly relied on the United States. Now, 20% of the high-growth market comes from the Asia-Pacific.
Last year was also a landmark year for Ireland’s economic growth, with 11,800 new net jobs alone.
Moreover, the Irish government has also launched the "Irish version of the Five-Year Plan" - the "2015~2019 Plan" to further consolidate Ireland's domestic employment situation.
Xu Linye said that industries represented by aircraft leasing, technology industry, and clean energy have become the areas in which Chinese companies are most interested in investing in Ireland.
Last year, Chinese companies invested in Ireland and delivered an outstanding report card: for example, the communications giant Huawei set up a research and development center in Ireland; China Construction Bank also followed the ICBC and other financial institutions in entering the aircraft leasing industry in Ireland. .
Xu Linye believes that with the current emphasis on "Internet +" in China, cloud computing and big data will be the new frontiers for Chinese companies to invest in Ireland in 2016.
Europe's "Silicon Valley"
The technology industry has always been Ireland's most internationally competitive core industry. So far, the top ten Internet companies in the United States have settled in Ireland, while 9 of the top ten software companies in the world and the former Three of the six major game publishers have also used Ireland as their gateway to enter Europe.
“Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is already known as the ‘Silicon Valley of Europe’,” said Xu Linye.
The reason why Ireland is so popular among American and European Internet companies is that high-speed network construction, construction and maintenance costs, data protection policies, preferential tax rates, and talent reserves are all Ireland's unique advantages that cannot be ignored.
In terms of geographical location, Ireland is located in the northwest corner of Europe, facing the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the United Kingdom to the east. It is a transit point from North America to Europe.
As early as the 1890s, North America-Ireland The transatlantic submarine optical cable was the first to be built, and since then Ireland has become the first choice for American companies to set up shop in Europe. The first choice for data hosting centers.
Now, Ireland has 2 submarine optical cables running through the United States, at least 11 submarine cables connecting all parts of the UK, and connecting eastward to Europe and Africa via Verizon and Level3, the top international telecommunications operators. and the Middle East.
Complete network infrastructure.Building a data center in Ireland can help enterprises achieve automatic failover: if there is a network outage in the United States, the Irish data center can continue to provide corresponding services.
As a data center, power maintenance needs cannot be underestimated, but Xu Linye said that Ireland’s electricity billing is lower than the European average.
At the same time, the Irish government is committed to the development of green renewable energy. It is expected that 40% of the national power supply will be replaced by green renewable energy in 2020, which will further reduce the cost of electricity while also taking into account energy conservation and emission reduction.
Last year, Apple invested 850 million euros to build a new data center in Ashenlai, Ireland. The center plans to use wind power. To this end, Apple will launch at least 6 renewable energy projects to ensure power supply.
In addition, Ireland also has strict data protection laws.
Since the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2015, the number of data protection officers at the Irish Data Protection Commission has doubled, aiming to regulate cross-border data dissemination and ensure compliance with EU regulatory requirements.
With the exposure of the "Prism Gate" incident, American companies have transferred customer data overseas to avoid government surveillance, and Ireland's strict compliance with data protection is undoubtedly a great attraction.
Taxation has always been a magic weapon for the Irish government to attract foreign investment.
On the basis of corporate tax rates that are already lower than those in other European countries, since January this yearStarting from the 1st, the Irish government officially launched the "Knowledge Development Box" policy, which applies a preferential tax rate of 6.25% to intellectual property profits generated from R&D activities in Ireland, which is half of the basic corporate tax rate of 12.5%, in order to encourage local Irish enterprises and Foreign investors should actively carry out R&D and innovation activities.
Data Center Hot
Zhang Zhewei, China Director of the Irish Investment and Development Authority, said, "Big data and cloud computing are the current development trends of the global technology industry. hot spots.
With its unique geographical advantages, talent pool, scientific research investment and government support, Ireland stands out as a strategic highland for industry development.
”
Ireland established the National Big Data Analysis Research Center Insight as early as 2014, aiming to develop the next generation of data analysis and big data technology. Specific research areas include machine learning, data mining, data optimization and decision analysis, and media analysis. wait.
Ireland hopes to build it into a big data analysis and research center with the nature of an "international navigation beacon".
Zhang Zhewei emphasized that in the past few years, many leading international technology companies have invested in building data centers in Ireland and carried out big data R&D and analysis activities.
Google, Amazon Internet giants such as Apple and Vodafone have invested heavily in establishing their European data centers in Ireland.
Microsoft has recently built its latest data center in Dublin, Ireland.
Facebook will also invest. $200 million to build data center
"We found that technology companies are at the forefront of Chinese companies' "going out".
For them, Ireland will be a foothold into the European and even international markets.
Ireland provides a friendly and business-friendly economic environment, high-quality R&D and international market development talents, and even a large number of industry cooperation opportunities.
”
However, there are currently no Chinese Internet companies investing in Ireland. Therefore, Xu Linye welcomes Chinese Internet companies to take advantage of Ireland's advantages and consider establishing a data center in Dublin in due course.
As for Ireland’s financial sector, Xu Linye said that Chinese companies are currently more involved in the aircraft leasing field, but the Irish financial sector is divided into fund management and international insurance. Business is also a new way for Chinese companies to do business
