Texas fund provides uplift for SpaceX. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare expands in two locations in New Zealand. Sumitomo Chemical pursues photoresist expansion in Osaka.
Squarespace, which just announced an expansion in Dublin that will take the company’s Irish headcount to 400 employees, employed the talents of Irish actor Barry Keoghan (of “The Banshees of Inisherin”) and his new beloved donkey Don Mosley in its latest Super Bowl ad that ran in February.
Photo courtesy of Squarespace
As Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin paid a visit to the White House last week, Ireland IDA Chief Executive Michael Lohan visited by Zoom with Site Selection’s Adam Bruns from a conference room in New York as an Irish delegation spent the week holding a series of meetings and engagements. One catalyst for the occasion was the launch this month of Ireland IDA’s new five-year strategy, which among other goals aims to accomplish the following:
1,000 new investments that will “deliver €250 billion to the Irish economy and further embed FDI clients in Ireland”
The scaling of RD&I (innovation) investment to €7 billion
Upskilling of 40,000 people within the IDA Ireland client base
The creation of 75,000 new jobs across priority sectors of growth and opportunity
The securing of 550 investments into regional locations (i.e. dispersed from Dublin).
Lohan, who lives in a rural town, said he’d likely be spending St. Patrick’s Day returning to his roots, just like the rest of his countrymen and women. “If you went to three local towns,” he said, “you’d probably see the same parade three times.”
As for the parade of tough-talk trade statements and responses involving the United States and longtime trade partners, Lohan said, “Undoubtedly we’ve seen a significant change in tone in international relations … we’re a firm believer in open policies and having free trade flows. Investors need to have a level of certainty. That’s become quite obvious if it wasn’t before.”
Reiterating the longstanding and prosperous connections between the two countries, Lohan said, “Ireland is a gateway for U.S. companies to Europe and the world, and indeed Irish companies are investing in the U.S. We want to make sure U.S. and Irish companies continue to internationalize and grow. The continuation of that is going to be important, notwithstanding its being challenged at the moment. That pragmatic, business approach will be at the center of decision-making. In a trade war, there are no winners. It’s not in Ireland’s interest, Europe’s interest nor the USA’s interest.”
Exhibit A: the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) at 46 Virginia universities and colleges. Exhibit B: a partnership among Amazon, NVIDIA, the University of Washington and the University of Tsukuba in Japan.
Northrop Grumman has successfully demonstrated at GrandSKY the capabilities of its Firebird aircraft, which can be crewed or uncrewed.
Photo courtesy of GrandSKY
North Dakota’s 217-acre uncrewed aerial systems development GrandSKY, located at Grand Forks Air Force Base, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Site Selection has covered news at the site since its launch, including a second report in 2015 and a recent update in November 2024. The operation provides access to over 11,000 square miles of uncongested BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) airspace and has hosted flight demonstrations and testing from the likes of General Atomics, Northrop Grumman and others. GrandSKY says it has helped attract the creation of more than 269 skilled jobs with an average annual salary of nearly $118,000. “The private sector has invested more than $159 million,” said a March 4 press release, “a $4.81 return on every $1 of the $33 million the state has invested.”
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Audrey Bruns, daughter of Site Selection Editor in Chief Adam Bruns, made this photo from the La Salle Street Bridge in Chicago on Saturday, March 15. Chicagoans and tourists came out in throngs over a weekend that saw temperatures reach 70 degrees to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and watch members of Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 UA perform the annual ritual of dyeing the Chicago River green. “St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago is like Christmas season in New York,” the younger Bruns observed. On that note, snow returned to Chicagoland on Sunday. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
