Amazon.com, one of the world's biggest internet retailers, is close to signing a deal to establish a new customer support and administrative centre in Ireland.
The US firm's executives concluded a tour of internet data centres in Dublin last week and is believed to be considering setting up a separate site in Cork.
The two Amazon sites would employ more than 200 staff and represent a significant coup for IDA Ireland, which is targeting the internet sector as a priority.
Amazon is one of the top three internet firms in the world. The two other big dotcoms - Google and eBay - have already set up Irish operations which will employ more than 1,000 people.
Neither the IDA nor Amazon would comment on the negotiations between the two parties when contacted yesterday.
But industry sources said that negotiations on the deal were well advanced and Ireland was now a clear leader for the project.
Amazon executives are understood to have visited several of Dublin's big internet centres, including facilities owned by the companies Telecity and Eircom. The centres would manage Amazon's internet services, which are crucial for online retailers.
Other sites that have been considered by Amazon for its new European administrative and customer centre include Luxembourg, which is considered attractive because of its low VAT rates.
Amazon, a Seattle-based firm founded by Mr Jeff Bezos, sells a range of products over the Web, including books, DVDs and electric products.
In the first quarter of 2004, it generated $1.53 billion (€1.28 billion) sales and profits of $111 million.
Meanwhile, new IDA figures obtained by The Irish Times show the agency has approved 24 projects so far in 2004, creating 2,200 new jobs. However, just 14 of the 24 projects have been formally announced by the IDA, in part because of concerns over negative publicity in the US.
