Dublin City Council has approved Microsoft’s application to build data more data centers in the city. In the next three years, Microsoft will build four new data centers there, according to news reports.  

Microsoft has already invested heavily in Dublin, building three data centers at the Grange Castle business park in Clondalkin at a cost of €800 million. The company will build  new facilities on the site now, ultimately employing some 180 more people, according to a report in the Irish Independent

Microsoft Dublin data center
Microsoft Dublin data center – Microsoft

Dublin bound

Microsoft made Dublin its first major European data center location with its Azure cloud supported from facilities which it has been building there since 2007.

“Demand for online services has expanded exponentially and additional data centre development is required to allow Microsoft Ireland to meet an ever-growing worldwide demand for the services it offers over the internet,” Microsoft said in its planning application.

Microsoft had Phase Two of the Grange Castle development approved in 2013, and now Phase Three has got the green light.

Ireland has attracted large data center builders with its cold climate, generous tax breaks and great network links to the other side of the Atlantic. Microsoft’s existing neighbors in Grange Castle include Amazon and Google.

Apple will be spending €850 million on a massive data center in a forest in Galloway, while Facebook is planning to build a s €200 million data center in Clonee, County Meath - the first outside the US that it will own outright. Meanwhile Amazon is expanding its impressive holdings in Ireland with a plan to convert the former Jacob’s biscuit factory in Dublin.