More than 15 companies headquartered in Arizona have made business connections with Ireland by establishing an office, development center or lab to expand and grow international business. These include such leaders as Standard Aero, MSR-FSR, ON Semiconductor, transACT, Microchip Technology and companies in the aviation sector.
- transACT: Headquartered in Phoenix, Transact Campus Inc. was established in 2019 following a spinout by Blackboard Technologies. It is the leading integrated payment and software solution company for campus environments, employing around 500 people worldwide. In 2020, Transact established a Technology Hub in Limerick, which today employs approx. 70 people across a range of highly skilled software engineering roles.
- Microchip Technology Inc. (Chandler) invested $20 million to create a new development center based in Cork to focus on mixed-signal integrated circuit design, applications and software development for high-speed networking; timing and synchronization products; high-voltage power management devices and solutions; high-reliability integrated power systems; and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). Microchip also has facilities in Dublin and Ennis in Ireland, both of which increase the company’s development center abilities to deliver superior products and provide timely response to customers.
- StandardAero: Scottsdale-based StandardAero is one of the aerospace industry’s largest independent maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers. It has an office in Cork,
- MSR-FSR: Headquartered in Chandler with an office in Naas, Co. Kildare, MSR-FSR is an international engineering service provider that supports businesses operating in the high-technology sectors.
- ON Semiconductor: This Phoenix company, creator of intelligent power and sensing technologies, established a design center in 2008 in Limerick and opened a second design center in Cork when it acquired SensL.
Historic Ties between Ireland and Arizona
The Great Famine that took place in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 spurred a major exodus, with many immigrants ending up in Western states to seek their fortunes in the gold rush as well as mining other elements. By 1864, nearly 25% of the non-native male population in Arizona were prospectors, and Irish immigrants could be found across Arizona, particularly in boom towns like Tombstone and Globe.
Today, the Irish population of Arizona is 8.45%. The longtime influence of the Irish in Arizona is most notable in the McClelland Library, which has the biggest repository of materials on the Irish in the Southwest and plans on specializing in the Irish west of the Mississippi.
Ivan Houlihan is senior vice president and head of the West Coast of the United States for IDA Ireland, the national investment development agency for Ireland. IDA Ireland partners with companies worldwide to provide financial assistance, on-the-ground support and advice to help companies establish and transform their operations in Ireland. Based in California, Houlihan works closely with existing and potential clients in technology, financial services, life sciences and engineering throughout the Western U.S. and Mexico.
