How AI is shaping global foreign investment
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the factors behind global investment decisions, creating new opportunities for countries such as Ireland to attract high-value technology projects and strengthen their role in the digital economy.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming one of the defining forces shaping the next era of global trade and investment. No longer a technology adopted at the margins of business, AI is now central to how products are designed, supply chains are managed, customers are served, investment decisions are made, and competitive advantage is built across borders.
For Ireland’s open and highly globalised economy, these shifts are significant. FDI has been central to Ireland’s economic transformation over many decades and, today, more than 1,900 multinational companies partner with IDA Ireland and employ more than 300,000 people across the country. Many of these companies serve European and wider global markets from Ireland, making AI an important new driver of innovation, productivity, competitiveness and long-term investment.
This momentum is reflected in Microsoft’s latest Global AI Diffusion Report, which ranks Ireland third globally and first in Europe for AI adoption, with 49.9% of the working-age population having used generative AI in Q2 2026, compared with a global average of 18.8%. The same Microsoft report shows Ireland’s AI adoption rate increased by 1.5 percentage points in just one quarter, from 48.4% in Q1 to 49.9% in Q2 2026.
While the fundamentals of location decisions remain important — stability, talent, infrastructure, market access and a supportive business environment — AI is changing how companies assess each of these factors. Investors are placing greater emphasis on digital capability, advanced skills, data governance, cyber resilience and responsible technology deployment. For multinationals, this is broadening the role of overseas operations beyond sales, support or manufacturing towards higher-value activities such as AI-enabled R&D, data analytics, software engineering and advanced manufacturing.
The opportunity
Enterprise adoption of AI is accelerating: according to the Central Statistics Office Artificial Intelligence Society Statistics – Enterprises 2025, 57.7% of large enterprises in Ireland used AI technology in 2025, underlining the increasing role of AI in established business operations.
As adoption accelerates, a growing number of new companies are emerging in the sector, from AI-native start-ups to specialist firms focused on data automation, cybersecurity, life sciences and enterprise solutions. This momentum is creating new investment opportunities, deepening demand for advanced skills and reinforcing the importance of locations that can support innovation, responsible deployment and international growth. For multinational companies already operating in Ireland, AI is also creating opportunities to deepen and evolve existing mandates, as sites move beyond traditional functions and embed AI into products, platforms, services and internal operations.
Ireland is well positioned to secure these investment opportunities, supported by a specialist talent base, strong research capability and a proven track record in helping companies establish, scale and transform international operations. Recent AI-led investments have reinforced Ireland’s strengths in enterprise AI, sovereign cloud, cybersecurity, data infrastructure, software engineering and digital business services, with investments by companies such as Anthropic, Rippling, NTT DATA and OpenText pointing to Ireland’s growing role as a location for advanced technology development and innovation at scale.
Ireland’s competitive advantage
Ireland’s capacity to secure high-value AI investment rests on the deliberate intersection of four distinct pillars: talent, research infrastructure, an established industrial ecosystem and a mature regulatory environment.
Ireland has one of the world’s strongest AI talent pools. The country has a strong record in third-level attainment, STEM education and technology skills, and ranked joint 4th globally for AI talent concentration in 2025 according to LinkedIn/OECD data. This position has improved from 10th globally in 2016, indicating sustained growth. Decades of investment by global technology leaders have helped create a sophisticated pool of engineers, data specialists, product leaders and digital transformation professionals. However, AI requires continuous reskilling. Industry-academic collaboration, ICT Skillnet activity and targeted postgraduate programmes will be central to ensuring Ireland’s workforce continues to evolve from cloud, software and data capability into the next generation of generative AI, machine learning and responsible deployment expertise.
Ireland’s industry is supported by a strong research base. Research into AI that is underway in Ireland across industry and academic institutions is supported by Research Ireland’s Rinn network – a national research and development platform launched earlier this year. Within that network, Rinn Artificial Intelligence is designed as a national hub for research and innovation in data science and AI, advancing foundational research whilst supporting open, international and interdisciplinary collaboration on the design and deployment of AI to address societal and enterprise challenges. In tandem, CeADAR, Ireland’s National Centre for applied AI, also provides an important bridge between academic research and commercial application. Across Irish universities and research institutes, multinational companies can collaborate on applied AI, data analytics, cybersecurity and high-performance computing in ways that support both innovation and real-world deployment.
The country benefits from a unique technology ecosystem characterised by a dense presence of global technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta and AWS, alongside enterprise software leaders and a robust domestic technology base. This creates a powerful cluster effect. AI investors coming to Ireland are not entering an isolated market; they are joining an established ecosystem of suppliers, partners, start-ups, experienced executives and specialist service providers, all of which can accelerate the pace at which new investors scale.
Ireland’s proactive regulatory environment is critical to our continued ability to attract AI-related investment, as trust increasingly becomes a core decision factor. Companies need legal certainty and confidence that AI can be developed and deployed responsibly. Ireland’s experience with complex data governance under GDPR, together with the establishment of the National AI Office to support implementation of the EU AI Act, gives the country a strong foundation. Ireland’s national Digital and AI Strategy provides an important framework for ensuring the country can capture the opportunities of AI while managing risks responsibly. Together with the work of the National AI Office, the strategy is focused not on deregulation, but on clarity, credibility and the ability to support innovation in line with European values and legal frameworks. This strengthens Ireland’s position as a credible European base for responsible AI investment and long-term digital growth. As the EU AI Act is implemented and digital regulation continues to evolve, companies will increasingly value locations such as Ireland, which combine innovation with responsible governance, transparency, data protection and trust.
Turning opportunity into value
The benefits of AI investment extend well beyond the technology sector. High-value AI projects create demand for specialist legal, compliance, data governance, cybersecurity, engineering and consultancy services. AI investment can also raise productivity and standards across healthcare, logistics, financial services, agriculture, life sciences and advanced manufacturing. It is enabling faster scaling through leaner, more data-informed operating models, strengthening the link between Irish-based operations and global customers, and reinforcing Ireland’s reputation as a place where innovation can be developed, tested and scaled. For Ireland, the opportunity is to ensure that AI is not treated as a narrow technology vertical, but as an enabling capability across the full economy.
The scale of that opportunity is significant: AWS research estimates that increasing the proportion of businesses using AI in advanced, business-critical ways could generate up to €10.1 billion in additional gross value added for Ireland.
The next three to five years will help shape Ireland’s place in the global AI economy. To succeed, we must continue investing in skills, research and infrastructure. Digital and AI-led investment also depends on secure data infrastructure, resilient energy systems, strong connectivity, research capacity, housing, transport and a planning environment that supports timely delivery. We must also ensure that AI-enabled growth is regionally balanced and aligned with national sustainability goals.
This is strongly reflected in IDA Ireland’s strategy, Adapt Intelligently: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Innovation 2025-2029. AI and digitalisation are among the four key growth drivers identified for the next phase of foreign direct investment, underpinned by regional development as a key priority. In practice, that means developing high-efficiency technology hubs, continuing to strengthen regional infrastructure, attracting projects that deepen Ireland’s capability base and ensuring that enterprises have the clarity they need to invest with confidence.
The competitive advantage of investment locations will depend not simply on having technology available, but on having people who can use it effectively and responsibly. That is why transformation across research and development, training, digitalisation and sustainability will be central to helping companies future-proof Irish operations and strengthen long-term mandates.
Ireland is now preparing to host the International AI Summit in Dublin on 14th October 2026 as part of the country’s EU Presidency. The Summit will bring together government, global industry, investors, innovators and academics to explore how applied and trustworthy AI can strengthen European competitiveness. It will provide an important platform to showcase Ireland’s role in shaping Europe’s AI future, highlight the country’s distinctive strengths and reinforce Ireland’s position as a bridge between global AI innovation and European market scale.
Ireland’s reputation as an attractive investment location has been built on capability, trust, access and partnership. In an era where AI will redefine productivity, competitiveness and innovation, Ireland has the foundations to remain a preferred European location for the companies shaping the next phase of the global digital economy.
Anne-Marie Tierney is the Global Head of Technology & Content, Consumer and Business Services at IDA Ireland headquarters in Dublin.
