Data centre demand drives NI manufacturing boom

**Data centre demand fuels NI manufacturing surge**

Data centres are essentially warehouses packed with computer servers that are vital to the functioning of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

New official figures indicate that demand for data centre equipment is likely behind a manufacturing boom in Northern Ireland.

NI manufacturing expanded at an annual rate of 9% in the second quarter of this year, far above the UK average of 1.2%.

Northern Ireland has been beating the UK average since the beginning of last year.

Most of the growth has come from the "computer, electronic, electrical, and optical products" sector, which rose by almost 28% year on year in the latest quarter.

That subsector includes a group of local firms that produce power equipment for data centres.

Data centres are effectively warehouses full of computer servers which are central to the operations of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Companies such as Microsoft, Google and OpenAI have been spending billions of pounds on centres like these as they race to build the fastest and most useful AI services.

These facilities need a huge, uninterrupted power supply.

Several local companies specialise in designing and manufacturing these power systems.

Last month, the managing director of one of those firms told the BBC they were seeing "astronomical" demand for their products.

Michael Beagan runs TES in Ballykelly, which was recently acquired by a large French company.

"When we started on this site four years ago there was basically a team of two. We're now at about 175 employees and growing," he said.

The strong manufacturing figures may also be linked to data centre demand for products made at the Seagate factory in Londonderry.

It produces hard disc drives, which AI companies need to store the vast amounts of data that support their services.

Earlier this week, the Republic of Ireland's Central Bank said AI and data centre equipment is making up an increasingly large share of investment spending in the country.

It said the value of imports of "machinery and equipment" had increased at an annual rate of 56% in the second quarter of this year.

It added that the import pattern was "consistent with continued AI and data centre investment and the imports of the hardware typically used in them."

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