Cork received another jobs boost yesterday with the announcement by US company Altera Corporation that it will create up to 60 high-level jobs over the next five years by centralising a number of management functions there.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Harney, confirmed that Altera would be establishing its European shared services centre at Cork airport business park. She welcomed the decision by the technology company to come Ireland.
"This decision is an important recognition of Ireland's ability to be a cost-effective base and a leading location for such strategic high-level support services centres," she said.
Altera - which makes programmable logic devices for electronic systems manufacturers - is establishing the centre to achieve greater efficiencies in its European division, which accounts for 25 per cent of its global sales.
Work at the Cork centre will include management of the network of independent European distributors, product pricing, contract negotiations and financial shared services.
The Altera Corporation vice president of European business operations, Mr Tim Colleran, said Ireland had an established record of working with the semi-conductor sector and he praised IDA Ireland for its support in successfully starting the operations of the centre.
Altera, which will retain its European headquarters at High Wycombe in the UK, has already commenced recruitment for the Cork operation and it is expected that the centre will open within the coming months.
The new jobs will require people with a range of qualifications.
Altera's products, programmable logic devices (PLDs), are integrated circuits which allow electronic system manufacturers to customise a semi-conductor based on their application needs. This helps cut development costs and shorten delivery times for products to market.
Founded in 1983, Altera had revenues of $827 million (€685 million) in 2003 and employs approximately 2,000 people worldwide while it provides programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide.
