A new report has found that Amazon's cloud computing division has contributed €11.4 billion to the Irish economy since 2012.
The study, carried out by Indecon International Economic Consultants on behalf of Amazon Web Services (AWS), says almost €2.4 billion of that contribution came last year alone.
The analysis also found that the company, which has been involved in infrastructure development here since 2007, supports more than 10,000 jobs in the Irish economy, directly and indirectly.
AWS has 4,200 direct employees in Ireland, while a further 3,000 people work for suppliers and sub-contractors of the cloud computing business, the research states.
These include hundreds of Irish companies, including those involved in construction, engineering, logistics and other services.
The report also outlines how some of these businesses have used the expertise gained to scale internationally, winning contracts abroad worth €240m this year alone.
Indecon found that an additional 2,900 roles in the wider workforce are also connected to investment made by the US tech firm.
Despite the commonly held view that data centres don’t employ many people, the report found that typically a data campus supports 2,250 jobs during construction.
When complete the analysis says each data centre campus employs 250 people on a full-time annual basis and increases total economic output by €381m annually.
The economic output during a typical three-year construction phase is estimated by the authors to be around €1.8bn.
"I urge everyone that has a view on data centres in Ireland to take a look at this AWS report and consider the level of economic impact that our work is having across so many sectors," said Neil Morris, AWS Ireland Country Lead.
"When Amazon Web Services (AWS) builds its cloud computing infrastructure, including data centres, in a community, it means more jobs, more local investment, and more education and training opportunities for the people who live and work in those places."
However, despite their claimed economic contribution, data centre operators including AWS have faced criticism and opposition here due to the amount of energy the centres require to run.
The Central Statistics Office released new information in June showing that cumulatively all data centres increased their total power consumption by 31% last year.
They now account for 18% of all electricity used in this country, up from 5%.
Data centres consumption has increased by 400% since 2015, compared to a 20% overall increase in electricity consumption over the same seven-year period.
It is estimated that there are currently around 82 data centres operational in Ireland.
Because of the tight energy supply here, national grid operator Eirgrid said last year it would not be granting grid connections for new data centres in the Dublin area for the foreseeable future.
Amazon Web Services recently received planning permission for three new data centres in west Dublin.
But a condition of the permission is that prior to the operation of the data centres, AWS must have in place a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA), which demonstrates that the energy consumed by the data centres is matched by new AWS renewable energy generation.
The company says it was the first in Ireland to deliver an unsubsidised CPPA for renewable energy.
It currently has one CPPA operational in Cork, and others in Galway and Dublin are expected to come into operation late this year and next year respectively.
These will add 229MW of renewable energy to the grid each year.
Amazon has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and claims it is on its way to having all its operations powered by renewables by 2025, five years ahead of target.
