Vertiv plans to expand its manufacturing and testing footprint in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, submitting a planning application to Donegal County Council for 7,000 square metres of additional space, a move that gives power and cooling equipment manufacturers a live example of how AI and hyperscale data centre demand is translating directly into new Irish production capacity and skilled jobs.

The proposed expansion is expected to support the creation of up to 300 new jobs in the region, adding to more than 500 employees Vertiv has onboarded across its Irish facilities since the start of 2026, with continued recruitment for engineering and operational roles.

The additional capacity is intended to expand manufacturing and technical expertise in power, cooling and industrialised infrastructure solutions for AI, data centre and critical industrial applications, and is supported by the Irish government through IDA Ireland.

Vertiv, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, is a global provider of power, cooling and IT infrastructure for data centres, communication networks and industrial facilities; in Ireland it operates sites in Letterkenny, Burnfoot, Campsie, Limerick and Dublin.

Paul Ryan, president of Vertiv in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: "This planned investment reflects the strategic importance of our operations across Ireland and the North West. As demand for critical digital infrastructure continues to accelerate, we are helping customers to deploy AI and data centre capacity worldwide."

The expansion reflects a wider pattern of critical infrastructure manufacturers localising production close to AI and hyperscale data centre clusters, shortening lead times on power and cooling equipment.

The timing tracks continued momentum in Ireland's foreign direct investment pipeline, with IDA Ireland securing 190 investments and 10,410 committed jobs in the first half of 2026 alone, while Donegal ranked the eighth highest county nationally for IDA-supported employment in 2025.

For the sector, the plan reinforces Ireland's north-west as a manufacturing base for critical digital infrastructure rather than solely a data centre hosting location, adding to the region's existing engineering and operational employment base.

The wider signal for the sector is that government-backed regional investment continues to underpin AI infrastructure build-out, with equipment manufacturers expanding physical capacity alongside the hyperscale and colocation demand they supply.

Source: Refindustry / The Irish Times / Donegal Live