The new jobs will see the company’s workforce in the city grow to more than 1,000.
Qualcomm Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, has announced a €125m investment to upgrade its Cork city site into a “strategic AI pillar” over the next three years.
Cork Chamber has said that the investment will support the creation of around 300 additional roles, which will see the company’s workforce in the city grow to more than 1,000. Qualcomm Technologies last invested $127m in the Cork site in 2023, creating 150 jobs.
The company established a presence in Cork in 2013, and has since developed relationships with Irish third-level institutions such as University College Cork, Munster Technological University and Tyndall National Institute, utilising talent through internships and graduate role opportunities.
Qualcomm is a long-standing leader in wireless technology and semiconductors specialising in manufacturing chips for mobile phones and computers. It is behind the Snapdragon series of processors for mobiles, laptops and extended reality (XR) sets.
The major investment into its Cork site is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. With this, Qualcomm plans to undertake a new research, development and innovation project in Cork, further diversifying its strategy beyond mobile phones into XR, IoT, data centres and automotive.
“Today’s announcement by Qualcomm is a powerful endorsement of Ireland’s ambition to lead globally in advanced research, next‑generation computing and AI,” said Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, TD.
“This €125m investment further strengthens Ireland’s position as a hub of deep‑tech innovation, creating hundreds of high-value jobs.
“This announcement is also a signal of support for Silicon Island – Ireland’s national semiconductor strategy – which aims to make Ireland a world leader in semiconductors through securing long‑term investments, developing a robust talent pipeline and seizing opportunities in technologies of the future such as AI.”
The company’s executive vice-president, and chief strategy and corporate development officer Colin Ryan said: “Qualcomm’s success and ongoing growth in Ireland reflect the strength of our partnerships with the Government, IDA Ireland and Irish universities.
“This investment underscores Cork’s importance as a strategic global R&D hub for Qualcomm and our commitment to supporting Ireland’s innovation ecosystem.”
Qualcomm is currently hiring engineers across several business areas, including platform test engineers, software test engineers and senior development engineers.
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