Amazon Invests More Than £70m Into New Irish Data Centre

Amazon plans to build a new data centre in Ireland, according to The Irish Independent.

The project will reportedly cost more than £73m, with Amazon keeping up the data centre pace with technology peers Facebook and Apple who recently announced new data centre builds in the country.

The Irish Independent cited Amazon as telling the local council in Dublin: “The proposed development involves the development of a new building as part of an enlarged data centre complex at this location.”

The site will be two storeys high and have a floorspace of more than 16,000m², and will be designed and built by AECOM Engineers, a global engineering design firm.

Amazon already has two data centre buildings at the Blanchardstown business park in Dublin, with the company having recently finished its DUB052 data centre build at the park.

TechWeekEurope has contacted Amazon, but has not received a response at the time of publication.

Safe Harbour

The news comes as the European Court of Justice recently ruled the Safe Harbour agreement null, meaning US companies, by law, will have to keep the data of European citizens within EU borders.
This is already causing problems for companies who move EU data across the Atlantic, as such transfers may be made illegal. Building more data centres in Ireland will help solve some of the data sovereignty problems for web giants such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

Whilst not necessarily related, this investment by Amazon into Ireland is likely to be the first of a new wave of cash injections into the country.

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