Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are starting a Trade and Investment Mission to the West Coast of the US today, led by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke.
The US is now the largest export market for Enterprise Ireland tech companies while North America remains the IDA's most important market for foreign direct investment and accounts for over 70% of inward investment employment in Ireland.
A total of 156 investments from North American companies were made in Ireland last year, which will result in 13,000 new jobs.
Many top tier global companies from the US West Coast such as Intel, Apple, Dexcom, Microsoft, Amazon have established in Ireland and continue to invest heavily in significant projects of scale at their Irish operations.
There are 290 West Coast headquartered companies operating in Ireland, employing more than 71,000 people and representing a quarter of total employment by IDA clients.
The delegation of 16 Enterprise Ireland clients and 15 IDA Ireland clients from the technology sector will take part in the five-day programme across Los Angeles, San Diego, Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Seattle, engaging with US companies including NVIDIA, Netflix and Amazon.
Recent deals include Second Dinner, the game studio behind Marvel Snap, investing in Irish gaming start-up W4 Games. W4 Games recently announced a new partnership with Meta to enhance the Godot engine's integration with Meta Quest, expanding the open-source game development ecosystem for virtual and mixed reality (XR) experiences.
Enterprise Ireland client companies also taking part in the mission, who are focused on rapid growth in the US, include SSVFX, Element VFX, Taoglas, W4 Games, Tines and Equal 1.
Minister Burke and members of VFX Ireland, the trade association that represents Ireland's VFX studios will meet with Netflix and Amazon Studios to discuss on-going and future collaboration opportunities in Los Angeles.
Irish VFX studios, such as Windmill Lane, EGG VFX, Piranha Bar and Outer Limits, have worked on major Netflix and US productions including Shogun, Bodkin, The Woman King, The Apprentice (2024) and The Forsyte Saga, showcasing their world-class talent.
The Irish VFX industry continues to thrive, now employing over 300 people and revenues have grown 326% in the last five years.
Leo Clancy, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, said that Enterprise Ireland client companies are scaling rapidly in the US, which is now the second largest export country for client exports, with €5.9 billion exports in 2023.
"Expanding their footprint in the USA, Enterprise Ireland clients have established 80 new market presences in the US in the last 18 months, supported by Enterprise Ireland's six offices across the USA," Mr Clancy said.
"The trade mission this week will look to further support Enterprise Ireland clients to scale in the market, particularly in the tech and VFX sectors, which are showing strong growth potential for our client companies," he added.
Michael Lohan, the CEO of IDA Ireland, said the Irish delegation will be meeting with some of the largest and most dynamic companies in the world of technology and life sciences.
"This week offers us an important opportunity to deepen our relationships with face-to-face meetings at the highest level with new and existing clients. Competition for foreign investment has never been as intense and trade missions such as these, help to increase awareness of Ireland’s attractiveness as a place to invest and succeed," the IDA CEO said.
"Investment from this part of the world continues to perform extremely well. In 2023, a total of 33 investments were secured from West Coast companies across the technology, high growth and life science sectors," he added.
Trade Minister Peter Burke said this trade mission will focus on key growth opportunities across the technology sector, supporting both early entrants and established Irish companies to expand key business relationships and secure further growth opportunities.
"Ireland's continued contribution to FDI to the US, at almost $240 billion, highlights the depth of the economic ties between both countries," Mr Burke said.
"Ireland's creative and tech industry has an excellent international reputation, demonstrating world-class technical skill and we believe there is significant opportunity for future growth. There are a number of vibrant Irish companies travelling with us on this trade mission and I look forward to supporting them in bringing their highly innovative products and solutions to the US market," he added.
