A welcome boost for the local employment economy, Chinese technology company Hauwei has announced the creation of jobs at the company’s research and development Athlone base.
In total, there will be 110 new employment positions created by the mobile phone company at their locations in Athlone, Cork and Dublin, reflecting an economy investment of €80 million and sustaining a strong presence within the country.
This announcement will see Hauwei grow its employment creation to 310 personnel towards the conclusion of 2022, doubling its workforce over a three year period.
Welcoming the employment boost for the local economy, Town Mayor, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, noted that the decision announced by Hauwei cements the company’s commitment to maintaining a strong presence in Athlone.
“I would like to warmly welcome the news this week that Huawei have plans to further invest in Athlone, to expand their presence here, and in doing so, add new jobs to their Athlone base.
“This decision copper-fastens Huawei’s commitment in and to Athlone, and I would be confident that going forward with Huawei, there is great potential for further future growth. To put this company’s scale in perspective Hauwei is one of the world’s leading providers of information and communications technology (ICT ) infrastructure and smart devices.
“The company employs more than 194,000 people worldwide, and operates in more than 170 countries. Hauwei has a consumer base of more than three billion people around the world.
“Huawei has a broad range of activities in Ireland, where it serves all of the major telecommunications providers with products and business solutions. It is extremely satisfying to see Athlone chosen by a leading worldwide brand to invest and grow its base locally and to employ people in high quality jobs.
“Despite these turbulent times it is very encouraging that Athlone continues to demonstrate its ability to attract inward investment. And, with an expansion of the Athlone IDA park underway including a 50,000 sq ft Advance factory I am very optimistic for the future,” the Town Mayor remarked.
His positive thoughts were echoed by Minister of State for Trade Promotion and Longford-Westmeath Deputy, Robert Troy.
“This is a further endorsement of the skills and potential of the Midlands region. Despite all the challenges we have faced over the past year, Ireland has demonstrated itself as top investment option for some of the world’s leading companies resulting in real, quality jobs for people at a time we need them most.
“Athlone clearly demonstrates it punches above its weight in software and technology and I am committed to seeing similar investments from across different sectors spread to all corners of the Midlands region,” Deputy Troy commented.
Confirming the latest recruitment plans Huawei Ireland Chief Executive, Tony Yangxu, expressed his delight that the company was continuing to grow its presence in Athlone and business locations within the country.
“We are delighted to see such growth in our workforce and business. Huawei has a long-term commitment to Ireland, where since 2004 we have built a world-class team servicing our ever-growing consumer and enterprise customer bases.
“This announcement is testament to the strength of those, as well as the ongoing success of our research and development programme, to which we committed €70 million in 2019. Our story in Ireland is one of mutual success, as we assist with the national digital transformation and Ireland continues to grow its international reputation as a pro-business environment with great talent available,” Mr Yangzu reflected.
Huawei has a broad range of activities in Ireland, where it serves all of the major telecommunications providers with products and business solutions.
Huawei’s R&D operations in Ireland work closely with Science Foundation Ireland research centres including Adapt, Connect and Lero, while also having partnerships with DCU, Trinity, UCD, UCC and UL. Its research and development work in Ireland focuses upon the areas of video, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI ), site-reliability engineering and 5G consumer use cases.
Huawei Ireland was recently announced as a 2021 regional top employer by the Top Employers Institute. Each year, Top Employers Institute certifies organisations who are focused on putting their people first through their exceptional HR policies.
The Top Employers Institute programme certifies organisations based on the participation and results of their HR Best Practices Survey. This survey covers six HR domains consisting of 20 topics such as People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being and Diversity and Inclusion and more.
