The Irish government, however, sees more golden opportunities in China’s rise on the global technology scene.
There are now an estimated 40 Chinese companies in Ireland, mostly in tech, finance and aviation, after the Irish investment agency IDA Ireland ramped up its footprint in the last years through its three offices in China: in Beijing, Shanghai and tech hub Shenzhen.
After unveiling a proposal to “rebuild trust and enhance cooperation in the economic field” between China and the West at Davos in January, Chinese Premier Li Qiang flew to Dublin to meet Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. It was Li’s only visit to an EU capital during his trip.
“Politically, we are a neutral country,” said Donal Travers of the Irish Development Agency (IDA), the agency in charge of securing foreign investment. “We maintain very strong diplomatic ties with as many countries as possible in the world, even with China.”
Ireland and Big Tech, 2.0
Apple, Microsoft and Intel were among the first tech giants to come to Ireland, in the 1980s. A second wave in the 2000s included Facebook (now rebranded as Meta), Google, Yahoo and eBay. In the 2010s, X (formerly Twitter) and Airbnb also settled in, putting their regional HQs in Ireland. Some of these firms use Ireland as their main international establishment, others as the center for European and sometimes Middle Eastern and African activities.
These tech giants helped to turn Ireland into an economic powerhouse, transforming it from a poor, largely agricultural country with high emigration into one of the EU’s wealthiest economies.
