‘We are on the brink of a Techxit’ says digital firm
THE current data centre moratorium and its impact on the development of Ireland’s digital infrastructure has led to warnings of a ‘Techxit’ by the MD of a leading digital infrastructure company.
Peter Lantry, Equinix Ireland’s Managing Director, says that by curbing the growth of the data centre industry, Ireland is risking its ability to attract and hold on to the world’s tech companies and on course to harming its economy.
Lantry was speaking following a new report from KPMG, which suggests the severe economic impact that would be caused by curbing the development of Ireland’s colocation data centre industry.
The report showed that Equinix’s existing facilities in Ireland currently enable an annual contribution to Ireland’s GDP of €15.8BN – or 3 per cent of the country’s total GDP.
As a colocation data centre provider, Equinix provides digital infrastructure to 260 enterprises in Ireland, supporting a range of key public services such as healthcare, telecommunications, and transport, while green technology and sustainable solutions are also reliant on the processing capabilities of data centres. Half of these enterprises are multinationals.
Mr Lantry, Managing Director for Ireland at Equinix, said: “We are on the brink of a Techxit. We used to be one of the major economic centres of Europe, but we are getting crossed out because we can’t facilitate the FDI investment that for so long has been central to our economy. The world is digital, and if Ireland does not change course on this quickly, it will be left behind.”
“The KPMG report demonstrates what we have been saying for some time – that colocation data centre providers, like us, are part of Ireland’s economic backbone and need to be classified as critical infrastructure to allow our economy to thrive. We are essential to supporting the country on its journey towards sustainability, both through progression in our own sustainability journey and the use of our infrastructure to aid the sustainability journeys of our customers.”
