By Business & Finance 
Yesterday marked a special day for Intel as the company celebrated the 25th anniversary of operations in Ireland.
To mark the occasion, a number of guests joined Intel Ireland employees at the Leixlip campus to commemorate this significant day and reflect upon the milestones and memories of the past 25 years.
Intel located its technology campus in Ireland in 1989 and the production of motherboards and systems began the following year. Since then, $12.5bn has been invested in the 360 acre former stud farm, turning it into the most technologically advanced industrial location in Europe.
Over the past two decades Intel in Ireland has come to represent a diversity of activities across the spectrum of Intel business from advanced manufacturing to cutting edge research and design. Today, Intel has 5,200 employees across the island of Ireland.
The celebratory event was attended by a number of special guests including the Mayor of Kildare, Fiona O’Loughlin, United States Ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley, Minister for Business and Employment Gerald Nash TD, Vice president of the Intel Technology and Manufacturing Group, Ann Kelleher and Intel Ireland general manager, Eamonn Sinnott.
Opening the event Eamonn Sinnott shared how proud he and everyone at Intel is of the successes of the past 25 years and how Ireland has been a welcoming home which has cradled the Intel investment since the very beginning, supporting us in being able to successfully grow and prosper and ultimately in becoming one of the only facilities of this kind in Europe and indeed the world. “It has been an incredible journey since Intel first decided to locate here in 1989 and since then we have gone on to become the largest private investment in the history of the state, something of which we are very proud. Intel’s investment in Ireland has had a significant impact on the country with an average of $880m being contributed each year to the economy, more than 7,000 full time jobs supported and almost $2 million each year being contributed to both community and education initiatives across the country. It really is exciting to think what the next 25 years may hold.”
The majority of the Intel workforce in Ireland are based at the Leixlip campus in Co. Kildare which is the location for Intel’s hi-volume, advanced manufacturing facility which is currently preparing to produce Intel’s latest 14nm process technology.
There are 250 employees at the Intel Shannon campus who work to deliver Intel’s strategies in the communications and storage infrastructure, automotive and retail spaces as well as a further 100 people who are employed at Intel Belfast which, following the acquisition by Intel in 2013 of leading Northern Ireland company Aepona, has become a Centre of Excellence for the Network Products and Services group.
Other Intel operations in Ireland include McAfee, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel and which has had significant operations in Cork since 2004 where today it employs 347 people. Dublin headquartered games technologies company Havok is also an Intel company with 120 employees who are focused on servicing the most demanding technical requirements for leading customers in the commercial games and entertainment industry.
This week’s event marks the culmination of celebrations throughout 2014 to mark the 25th anniversary of Intel in Ireland and the celebration comes on the back of a special achievement for Intel in Ireland just last week as we were named as the Multinational Corporation Initiative of the Year at the ISA Software Industry Awards.
