Excellent Week for Foreign Direct Investment from Japan with Five New Japanese Investments

The size of this trade mission, the diversity of industry sectors represented and the Irish companies taking part, all testify to the eagerness and commitment of Irish companies to develop deeper relationships with Japan, a key player in the world economy. It also signals Ireland's intent to the international scientific community and knowledge based industry that Ireland is very much open for business.

An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, TD

Two major Expansions with the creation of 150 New Jobs in addition to three Research and Development Investments announced

Wednesday 14th January 2009 – An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, TD, currently leading a Government Mission in Japan, today announced five Japanese Foreign Direct Investments for Ireland with the creation of, in excess of, 150 new jobs with the support of the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. Two of the investments are expansions of existing Japanese Head Quarter operations in Ireland and three of the investments are in Research and Development (R&D).

The expansion investments by Gala, a leading online community company that is expanding its European HQ in the Digital Hub with the creation of 50 jobs and Trend, a global leader in internet content security, that is to grow its Cork based EMEA operations centre and to expand its existing workforce by almost 70%, recruiting 100 people over the next three years. The three R&D investments are in automotive technology from Alps Electric, imaging techniques from Shimadzu and a combined investment from Sony, Toshiba and IBM researching the Cell Broadband Engine.

Job Creation Investments

• Trend

Trend plans to establish a new European anti-malware service, supporting TrendLabs’ global threat research and support in other regions, from its Cork operation. As a result the Cork office will increasingly play a strategic role in its parent company’s global business. As part of these ambitious expansion plans Trend will grow many of the existing functions and teams including its existing technical customer support.

• Gala

Gala has decided to expand its European HQ in Dublin due to the growth of the online games market and the success of its Irish operation to date. The 50 new positions being created will bring total employment at the facility to 100 by 2010. Gala was established in Tokyo in 1993 and the main focus of the company is the development of online games and the operation of game portal sites globally. Gala established its European HQ in Dublin in 2007 in order to expand its growing base of European customers.

Research and Development Investments

• Alps Electric

The Alps R&D project involves the establishment of a design team to introduce new technology into the European Automotive market and position it as a Market Leader in terms of safety and driver interface. It will build significant technical capability and knowledge within the Irish operation and strengthen its position within the Alps group.

• Shimadzu

Shimadzu is collaborating with The Applied Optics Group in NUIG, Galway in the area of imaging techniques. The Applied Optics Group leads in the field of novel imaging techniques and have a number of patents in this area. The Applied Optics Group is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

• Sony, Toshiba, IBM

As part of this joint initiative, Trinity College, Dublin has been chosen as the location for a Research Centre into the Cell Broadband Engine, the powerful chip at the heart of the Sony Playstation 3. The centre will be located at Trinity’s Graphics, Vision and Visualisation (GV2) Research Group which is funded by IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The Cell Broadband Engine is amongst the most powerful processors in the world as it deploys a unique multi-core architecture. As well as powering the Playstation 3 it is used in high-end Toshiba notebooks and a new range of blade servers for IBM.

Commenting on the announcements, An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, TD, said, ‘I am delighted to announce these new investments in Ireland by Japanese firms. The size of this trade mission, the diversity of industry sectors represented and the Irish companies taking part, all testify to the eagerness and commitment of Irish companies to develop deeper relationships with Japan, a key player in the world economy. It also signals Ireland's intent to the international scientific community and knowledge based industry that Ireland is very much open for business.”

Speaking from Japan CEO, IDA Barry O’ Leary said, ‘This is a successful outcome from an IDA perspective. I welcome these five significant announcements from Japanese companies and I am delighted to see increased investment activity from Japan in both Research and Development and the expansion of existing Japanese operations in Ireland. It is testament to the strength of the R&D sector in Ireland that companies such as Sony and IBM chose Ireland as the location for such R&D projects. The expansion in operations by companies like Trend and Gala is a vote of confidence in Ireland as a prime location for European HQ operations for Asian companies. As a result of this mission I look forward to welcoming further Japanese investment to Ireland in the future.’

For more information contact:
IDA Ireland
Trevor Holmes, Head of Corporate Communications, 01 6034023 / 087 2425560

Antoinette Tyrrell, Press Officer, 01 6034256/ 087 7572053

Gala
Julien Wera, PR/Marketing team 01 5111202

Trend
Grant Butler Coomber (GBC)
Tel: +44 (020) 8322 1922
trendmicro@gbc.co.uk