Top 10 US companies in Ireland: Tech sector dominates leaderboard

Topping the charts as the number one US company here is Apple. The iPhone and Mac maker established operations in the State in 1980 and has grown to employ about 6,000 people here since then. Apple’s Irish arm had revenue of $218.89 billion (€204.39 billion) in the 2023 financial year, compared to $222 billion the previous year.

Google Ireland moves up to the number two spot from third place last year. The company’s operation in the State provides technical, sales and operations support to customers in more than 50 countries. Most recent Irish revenue for the company was €72.6 billion, up from €64.8 billion.

Next on the list is another household name. Microsoft Ireland Operations is a subsidiary of the software giant Microsoft which sells, distributes and markets software globally from Dublin. Irish revenues for the world’s biggest software company were $69.9 billion, up from $65.4 billion the previous year.

Facebook parent Meta takes the number four spot. The social media behemoth’s Irish turnover stood at €58.05 billion in 2022, up from €52.3 billion in 2021.

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Rounding off the top five and making it a clean sweep for the tech sector is Dell Products. The Republic is a strategic global hub for the company and is home to its first EMEA Solution Centre to become operational as well as its first Cloud R&D centre. The most recent revenue posted was €16.2 billion.

Next on the list is climate control system maker Trane Technologies. Formerly known as Ingersoll-Rand, the company’s Irish arm earned €14.9 billion in revenue in 2022.

Coming in at number seven is Cisco Systems Internetworking (Ireland) Ltd. The networking specialist operates several businesses in the State, including software development in Oranmore, Co Galway, and sale and financial services teams in Dublin. Most recent turnover was €12.9 billion.

MSD Ireland takes eighth spot and is one of leading healthcare companies in the State, having established here more than 50 years ago. MSD employs more than 3,000 people here across five sites in Ballydine, Co Tipperary, Brinny, Co Cork, Carlow, Meath and Dublin. Its 2022 revenues stood at €12.2 billion.

Another life sciences company, Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, occupies ninth position. The company was one of the first pharmaceutical companies to locate in Ireland, in 1969. Its operations in the State manufacture some of bestselling and newest medicines, including Viagra, Sutent (oncology), Enbrel (rheumatology) and Prevenar (vaccines). Turnover reached €10 billion in 2021.

The top 10 is completed by tech company Oracle. It develops, manufactures, markets, distributes and services database and middleware software, applications software, and hardware systems, consisting primarily of computer server and storage products. Its Irish operation is involved in the manufacture and sale of computer software in the European market, together with the provision of associated translation, finance and marketing services. In 2022 turnover for its operation in the State was €9.1 billion.

This listing only gives part of the picture, however. It excludes the inverters, those American companies that became Irish by acquiring Irish entities and moving their legal headquarters to Ireland. These deals became known as inversions because the M&A deal is inverted to have the overseas company buy the US company. This allows the company involved to avail of the lower rate of corporation tax in Ireland on profits earned outside of the United States.

Medtronic acquired Dublin-based surgical supplies group Covidien in 2015 in what was the largest inversion to date at the time. Medtronic reported €30 billion in revenue in 2022.

Johnson Controls is another inverter. The car battery and heating and ventilating manufacturer acquired Tyco Ireland for $16.5 billion in 2016. The most recent turnover posted was €25.8 billion in 2022.

The other big inverter which would have made the top 10 had it remained a US company is Eaton Corporation, a power management company that provides energy-efficient solutions that help its customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more efficiently, safely and sustainably. The company sells products to customers in more than 175 countries and had revenues of €19.4 billion in 2022.