Manufacturing. There is life in the old dog yet. Two of the North West’s largest private sector employers, Vertiv and Seagate, have been enjoying a remarkable run of success of late, buoyed by a worldwide Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data centre boom.

Sold by Philip O’Doherty to Vertiv for $2billion in 2021, what was formerly known as E+I Engineering, now employs upwards of 2,500 workers across its factories in Derry and Donegal.

Seagate Technology has well over 1,000 people working for it in Springtown. Neither are AI companies per se buteachhas expertly positioned itself to benefit from rising demand generated by the burgeoning digital revolution. Both are advanced manufacturing companies whose skilled workers make high quality hardware that helps make the AI world go round. Vertiv employees make and export critical power systems which ensure the lights never go off in must-not-fail data centres around the globe.

Seagate workers produce next-generation hard disks. Springtown is on course to become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of semiconductor lasers. Good old-fashioned examples of factories making actual, physical things, selling them into new or expanding markets and achieving exceptional profit margins. As such, they are pathfinders for Derry and have shown it is possible for local manufacturers to spot gaps in industries of the future, including AI, data centres, green hydrogen and renewables.