| ***** Computer Select, July 1992 : Doc #22089 *****
Title: *Software makers flock to Ireland lured by generous incentives.
(Claris Corp., Microsoft Corp., others... [PC Week: March 9 1992]
Journal: PC Week March 9 1992 v9 n10 p152(1)
* Full Text COPYRIGHT Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. 1992.
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Title: Software makers flock to Ireland lured by generous incentives.
(Claris Corp., Microsoft Corp., others locating facilities in
Ireland)
Author: Morrissey, Jane.
Abstract: Many of the largest US software vendors, including Microsoft Corp
and Claris Corp, are choosing to locate manufacturing and
development facilities in Ireland because the Irish government
offers a unique combination of incentives. Corporate profits are
taxed only 10 percent in Ireland, and there are cash grants for
employee, capital and other expenditures. Ireland has an
efficient export system as well as abundant and cheap skilled
labor. Its telecommunications network is also sophisticated and
includes one of the most modern fiber-optic networks in the world.
Claris unveiled a new 6,700-square-foot facility in Dublin in Mar
1992. Ireland's Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is
actively looking to entice more US firms; the low tax rate is
guaranteed until the year 2010, and $3 billion was invested in
upgrading the telephone system in 1981. Symantec Corp, Lotus
Development Corp and Borland International Inc are among other
software firms lured to Ireland by its infrastructure.
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Descriptors..
Ticker: MSFT.
Topic: Ireland
Facility Location
Strategic Planning
Management
Computer Software Industry.
Feature: illustration
table.
Record#: 12 022 803.
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Full Text:
DUBLIN, Ireland -- Top U.S. software makers, including Claris Corp., are
flocking here, making it an overseas Silicon Valley.
The move by software companies to make Ireland the nerve center of foreign
operations is unusual given the relatively small market opportunity here.
The reason, top PC software executives said, is a combination of incentives
that no other overseas location can match.
Among the drawing cards are a low 10-percent tax on corporate profits,
guaranteed until 2010; cash grants for employee, capital and other
expenditures; an efficient export system; abundant and cheap skilled labor;
and a sophisticated telecommunications network. All of this supports a scant
$20 million local software market.
Companies that have set up manufacturing, foreign-language translation and
development centers include Microsoft Corp., Lotus Development Corp., Borland
International Inc., Symantec Corp. and Claris.
With some major U.S. software makers garnering more than half of their
revenues from overseas, most are looking for the best spot within the same
time zone as most of Europe to broaden worldwide operations.
"Ireland is the only place to do software," said Tim Daly, vice president of
worldwide operations for Claris, of Santa Clara, Calif., which set up
operations here in 1988. "Seventy [percent] to 80 percent of the software
sold in Europe comes from Ireland." Overlooking the blustery green landscape
of Dublin's Blanchardstown sector, Claris earlier this month unveiled a new
67,000-square-foot facility.
A curious clash of soft Californian hues and hard industrial steel, the
dual-pyramid design has been derisively dubbed Twin Peaks by locals. The
plant is the Apple Computer Inc. subsidiary's biggest investment ever. That
spending has propelled Claris' overseas revenue from 14 percent of sales in
1988 to 47 percent in 1991.
The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland, in Dublin, is looking
to entice more U.S. companies, especially networking companies such as
Novell Inc. Last year, Ireland appointed a national software director whose
charter is to make sure Ireland does everything it can to encourage software
development.
The government invested $3 billion 11 years ago to overhaul the nation's
telephone system. It is now one of the most modern fiber-optic networks
overseas. The network is luring U.S. companies across all sectors to shift
technical support, telemarketing operations and data-processing tasks here.
Another attraction for U.S. companies is that economic incentives will
improve even more next year, when the European Community market is in full
swing. For example, customs will disappear, thus speeding time to market.
Ireland comes equipped with an extensive vendor-support structure. It is the
base of the leading disk-duplication company and of companies that offer
sophisticated manual printing.
This infrastructure was the main reason Symantec chose Ireland last year,
even though the country wasn't included in Symantec's initial scouting trip.
IDA officials approached the company back in California, prompting a visit to
Ireland by Symantec officials, who then made a decision to set up operations
there.
A chief result of setting up shop in Ireland has been speeding up time to
market with international versions of software. In some cases, workers in
Ireland have released new versions before their U.S. counterparts. Many
industry executives say those advantages are enough to overcome Ireland's
problem of being on the periphery of Europe.
Microsoft's operations are by far the largest, with 700 employees, and the
most secret. The biggest foreign employer in Ireland, Microsoft pumps out
more than 80 product types on 20 million disks each year, a volume so
impressive that officials do not permit visitors into the plant. The company
uses just-in-time delivery, carrying no inventory.
Founded in 1985 for manufacturing only, Microsoft's Ireland site began
translating products in 1988. The company, which originally anticipated a
total of 50 employees charged with translating software, now has 350 on the
task, said Michael O'Callaghan, general manager of Microsoft's Dublin
operation.
Curiously, key language translations -- such as French and German -- are
still done at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters. O'Callaghan hopes to
bring those efforts over when Ireland can handle higher capacities.
The area is also a home away from home for many U.S. hardware companies,
such as IBM and Apple. IBM houses a full-scale development center with 160
developers. The Ireland operation has created products for various IBM
product lines, such as Information Warehouse, and is working on future PS/2
software technology.
Intel Corp. plans to set up a $500 million plant in Ireland next year,
reportedly to make the 586 chip.
But the IDA has not won over all. Compaq Computer Corp. was not convinced,
choosing Great Britain instead, primarily because of the lucrative United
Kingdom market.
|
| Ireland Firm is Smiling (DEC Professional - September 1993)
In June, Dublin, Ireland-based Mentec Ltd. announced a 3-year,
multimillion-dollar investment to design, develop, and distribute
worldwide a new range of computer products based on Digital's
Alpha AXP architecture. The Irish company, which makes turnkey
systems, computer boards, and network management systems, will
launch its $5 million investment in AXP by building single-board
computers, or SBCs, using Multibus and Q-bus target designs.
|
| Subject: Intel Opens Advanced Chip Plant in Ireland
LEIXLIP, Ireland (Reuter) - Intel Corp. opens its biggest
plant in the world here Wednesday to manufacture its latest
blockbuster weapon in its fight to maintain its dominance of the
global market.
The $750 million facility, Intel's first microchip
manufacturing plant in Europe, will make Pentium
microprocessors, its most advanced chip packing twice the power
of its current market leading 486 chip. Chips are tiny pieces of
silicon that serve as the brains of computers.
``The product is the cornerstone of Intel's continued
success,'' said Howard High, spokesman for the Santa Clara,
Calif.-based company.
Intel, whose chips run 85 percent of the world's personal
computers, sees the plant's start-up as key to beating back
rivals seeking to break its market stranglehold.
``Many competitors are trying to come into the marketplace
and take some of Intel's market ... they're probably a year away
from producing in very high volume,'' said High.
``The ability of Intel to produce the Pentium chip in very
high volumes creates a large momentum for our product that makes
it less effective for competitors to stage a successful entrance
into that market,'' he said.
Intel's Leixlip plant, 10 miles southwest of Dublin, will
employ 1,100 workers and will be one of four factories producing
the Pentium chip.
Intel, which posted 1993 net profits of $2.3 billion on
sales of $8.8 billion, up from profits of $1.1 billion on sales
of $5.8 million, faces a host of challengers.
The most formidable is a new high-speed microprocessor
called PowerPC, developed by an alliance of Apple Computer Inc.,
Motorola Inc. and International Business Machines Corp.
In choosing Ireland, Intel has followed other U.S. computer
companies. Apple, Dell Computer Corp., Gateway 2000 Inc. and AST
Research Inc. have their European base in Ireland, lured by an
educated work force and business-friendly climate that includes
a corporate tax of 10 percent vs. 35 percent in Britain.
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