Fujitsu creates 150 jobs in the North
12-05-2008
by Emmet Ryan

IT services firm Fujitsu Services is to create 150 new jobs at its operations in Northern Ireland as part of an STG11 million investment.

Derry will be home to 120 of the new positions as Fujitsu opens a new Applications Services Centre of Excellence at its Timber Quay site in the city. The remaining 30 jobs will be located at Fujitsu's Belfast facility. The new staff will fill roles in areas such as technical support and application management. The announced jobs will bring the total number of staff employed by the IT services firm in Northern Ireland to over 900.

"Our main heartland [in Northern Ireland] has been Belfast and that will continue to grow," Michael Crow, head of Application Services with Fujitsu Services, told ENN. "Since opening the facility in Derry last year though we have been able to reach more of the Northern Ireland labour market."

Fujitsu is investing STG8.8 million in the new developments in Northern Ireland, while development agency InvestNI is providing STG2.2million. "We have worked with InvestNI for some time now and found that [Northern Ireland] is a good place for global delivery of our services," said Crow.

This is the third investment Fujitsu Services has made in Northern Ireland in the last year. These included an STG18 million investment in June 2007 which created 402 jobs, while a STG3.2 million expansion of the firm's Centre of Excellence for Oracle created a further 30 jobs in Belfast in August last year.

The new development was welcomed by Northern Ireland Economy Minister Nigel Dodds. "I'm pleased that a global brand of Fujitsu's standing has decided to reinvest further in Northern Ireland. The company considered several locations for this new centre of excellence but chose Northern Ireland because of the positive impact their existing operation here has on the company's global competitiveness," said Dodds.

Dodds said Northern Ireland has developed a reputation as an excellent location for investors looking to expand into Europe and was proving attractive to large multinational firms. "The success of the recent US-NI Investment Conference highlights the genuine interest overseas investors have in taking advantage of the business opportunities on offer in Northern Ireland," he said.