Ireland in Europe's AI and data-centre build-out
EU AI Factories and Gigafactories, hyperscaler investment across Europe, and how Ireland compares on power prices and the electricity mix.
Europe's AI build-out, and Ireland's place in it
The EU is funding AI Factories and Gigafactories, and hyperscalers are announcing tens of billions across Europe. Where does Ireland lead, and where is it being left out?
19
EU AI Factories
in 16 member states · none in Ireland
Antenna
Ireland's role: a link to French and Luxembourg factories
ICHEC / CeADAR
2026-12-03
AI Gigafactory call deadline
up to 7 gigafactories · ~€10bn public
19%
Ireland's data-centre share of national demand, 2024 (Ember)
NL 7% · DE 4% · FR 2% · CSO's metered measure, 2025: 23.2%
A customer, not a host. Ireland uses more of its electricity on data centres than any major European market and ranks second in the EU (after the Netherlands) for server imports from outside the EU, yet it hosts none of the EU's 19 AI Factories and has no public gigafactory bid. Its €10m commitment buys compute time in a French gigafactory, if that bid wins.
Where Ireland leads
- Ireland has the highest data-centre share of electricity among Europe's major data-centre markets.Ember 2024: Ireland 19% vs Netherlands 7%, Germany and UK 4%, France 2%, Europe 3%. CSO metered share 2025: 23.2%.
- Ireland is the EU's second-largest entry point for imported servers and server parts.Extra-EU imports, last 12 months: servers 14.6% of the EU total (rank 2), ADP parts incl. accelerator boards 24.6% (rank 2), both behind the Netherlands.
- Ireland is the second-largest named market for data-centre PPAs, but far behind Spain.Pexapark: 18.8 GW of data-centre PPAs in Europe 2018-May 2026, incl. Spain 6 GW, Ireland 1.9 GW, Finland 1.5 GW.
Where it lags
- Ireland hosts no EU AI Factory; it has only an Antenna linked to France and Luxembourg.19 AI Factories across 16 member states; Ireland is one of 7 member states with an Antenna only (EUR 5m EU + EUR 5m national).
- In the AI Gigafactory round Ireland is a buyer, not a host.The Government committed EUR 10m to buy compute time from a gigafactory in France, conditional on the French bid; no Irish-hosted bid is public.
- Offshore wind delivery: Ireland has almost none built and little expected by 2030.End-2025 offshore: Ireland 25 MW vs Germany 9,624, Netherlands 4,738, Denmark 2,652 MW. WindEurope expects Ireland to add 0.2 GW in 2026-30 against a 5 GW 2030 target.
- Grid access for new data centres is among the tightest in Europe, but no longer unusual.Ireland requires matching on-site dispatchable generation; the Netherlands waitlists near Schiphol to ~2035 and Denmark paused connections in Mar 2026.
- The big new hyperscaler announcements of 2024-2026 went elsewhere.Spain EUR 33.7bn (AWS), Finland EUR 13bn (Google), Portugal USD 10bn (Microsoft), Germany EUR 7.8bn (AWS) and EUR 5.5bn (Google); none found for Ireland.
- Inference: Ireland's AI build-out is happening inside existing campuses rather than through new public or announced capacity.Gross server and accelerator imports are rising fast (net of re-exports, more slowly) while new grid connections, AI Factory hosting and gigafactory hosting go elsewhere.
AI Factories by country
Every public Irish AI-compute bid or campus we found
| Initiative | Status | MW / GPUs | Sponsor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIF IRL-Antenna (EU AI Factory Antenna) EuroHPC AI Factory Antenna · EUR 10m (EUR 5m EU + EUR 5m national) | selected 13 Oct 2025; launched 1 Jul 2026 | not stated | ICHEC (University of Galway) with CeADAR; DFHERIS + EuroHPC JU | 2025-10-13 |
| CASPIr (national supercomputer, successor to Kay) EuroHPC mid-range supercomputer · up to EUR 25m acquisition (EuroHPC 35%); gov.ie says it leverages EUR 20m awarded by EuroHPC (the two figures do not reconcile; unchecked which is current) | hosting agreement Oct 2025; tender launched 27 Mar 2026 (competitive dialogue, requests to participate closed 5 May 2026); no award public; service expected Q3 2027 | GPU nodes included, number not stated | University of Galway / ICHEC with EuroHPC JU (65% / 35% ownership) | 2026-03-27 |
| AI Gigafactory call (EUROHPC-2026-CEI-AIGF-01): Irish role EU AI Gigafactory · EUR 10m | buyer, not host: EUR 10m to buy compute time from a French gigafactory, conditional on the French bid; Ireland in the joint procurement agreement (press); no Irish-hosted bid public; call closes 3 Dec 2026 | not stated | DFHERIS | 2026-07-30 |
| AI Gigafactory expressions of interest (Jun 2025) EU AI Gigafactory | 76 EoIs from 16 member states; the Commission withheld identities; no Irish consortium or site has been announced by any party (searched gov.ie, EuroHPC, Irish and trade press) | not stated | — | 2025-06-30 |
| Art Data Centres, Ennis (Co Clare) private campus (>=100 MW) · EUR 1.6bn (developer figure) | permitted (An Bord Pleanala, 2024); judicial review dismissed Mar 2026; enabling works starting | 200 MW | Art Data Centres Ltd | 2026-03-13 |
| Echelon DUB20 Arklow + DUB30 (Co Wicklow) private campus (>=100 MW combined) · EUR 4.2bn (was EUR 3.5bn in May 2025) | DUB20 under construction, due 2028; DUB30 planned | 90 MW IT each (180 MW IT) | Echelon Data Centres | 2026-03-26 |
| TensorX (Dublin AI inference cloud) private GPU cloud (small) · EUR 8m seed; plans up to EUR 100m of Blackwell GPUs across several countries | EUR 8m seed (Jun 2026); GPUs in Dublin and Helsinki | Nvidia Blackwell, number not stated | TensorX | 2026-06-23 |
| Context: CRU to Oireachtas AI committee (29 Sep 2026) regulator statement | CRU says single AI facilities can exceed 100 MW; no named Irish AI project or grid application disclosed | >100 (generic) | CRU | 2026-09-29 |
| Planning register scan PlanSight search | 0 planning descriptions mention artificial intelligence, GPUs, HPC or supercomputing (to 2026-09-27) | not stated | — | 2026-10-03 |
No public Irish gigafactory bid, no Irish AI Factory, and no planning application that mentions AI or GPUs. The two private campuses of 100 MW+ name no AI tenant. Gigafactory bids are confidential, so a missing bid is not proof there is none.
EuroHPC JU · EU Funding & Tenders portal / TED · Ember · Eurostat Comext · Pexapark · WindEurope · company announcements · quotes checked · as of 2026-10-10
Ireland against Europe
What big users pay, and how Ireland's electricity is made, compared with its neighbours and the US.
47.9%
Of Irish domestic generation from gas, 2025
Ember · 40% of demand incl. imports
37.7%
From wind
2nd of the countries shown, after Denmark
16.4%
Of demand met by imports
Ember
Electricity price for the biggest users, €/kWh
Band ≥150 GWh a year, excluding VAT and recoverable taxes, 2026-S1. National averages, not individual contracts.
Eurostat nrg_pc_205 · updated 2026-10-09
Carbon intensity of electricity, gCO₂/kWh, 2025
Since 2015: Irish demand rose 30% (28.82 → 37.4 TWh). Since 2020 wind's share has stayed between 31% and 38% and gas's near 48%; the growth was met by net imports, up from -0.5% to 16.4% of demand.
Ember yearly electricity data (CC-BY-4.0) · generation-based, ignores carbon in imports