Microsoft has a storied history with the country of Ireland, the company’s most notable entanglement with the area came as a 2014 legal battle over user privacy. Microsoft was held in contempt of court by the US court system as it attempted to leverage user data stored on Microsoft servers based in Ireland. Ultimately, three years later the Supreme Court, Congress passed the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act), which amended the SCA to resolve concerns from the government and Microsoft related to the initial warrant. The Supreme Court, following agreement from both the government and Microsoft, determined the passage of the CLOUD Act and a new warrant for the data filed under it made the case moot and vacated the Second Circuit’s decision.
Since then, Microsoft has continued to break ground on new facilities and expanded its presence in Ireland, and news of the company’s new Engineering Hub in the country looks to continue that trend.
Announced yesterday, Microsoft plans to invest in a $32 million dollar Engineering Hub at One Microsoft Court in Leopardstown, Dublin. The new expansion will come in at 107,639 sq ft and sit just outside of Microsoft flagship One Microsoft Court Place. With its new facility, Microsoft is also looking to recreate a Seattle campus favorite experience in its engineering “Garage.”
In The Garage, employees have the freedom to innovate, fail, learn and experiment on projects they are passionate about. It’s a fantastic space and we’re looking forward to welcoming colleagues, customers and community members to have fun and to create when restrictions are lifted – particularly our new engineer recruits.
Aside from expanding its physical footprint, the new Engineering Hub will also provide 200 new engineering roles to its portfolio of over 600 engineers in the area. Microsoft explains that it’s already underway attempting to recruit for the new 200 engineering slots and that filling the roles will help in various facets of the company’s portfolio that include software engineering and product design, user experience, and data science, all with a focus on cloud services.
