Apple considering 'major' expansion of Ireland manufacturing - report

Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2015
Apple is considering yet another expansion of its factory in Cork, Ireland in order to cope with overwhelming global demand for its products, a report said on Monday.




If Apple moves forward, the new expansion would build into a Cork County Council land bank which for 20 years has served as a Traveller halting site, according to Independent.ie. The company could be ready to almost double its factory space, although it's reportedly weighing that against a smaller expansion.

The company spent ?300 million ($334.3 million) on an expansion just a year and a half ago, and also has leases in two downtown Cork office blocks. Elsewhere, Apple is working on a ?850 million ($947.5 million) datacenter in Galway.

It's uncertain what Apple would produce with the extra factory space, but Cork manufacturing has traditionally centered around Macs, rather than devices like iPhones and iPads, which are assembled in China.

The report suggested that the project could add millions of euros to the Cork construction industry and create hundreds of jobs.

Apple has taken flak for another use of its presence in Ireland, which is funneling international revenues in order to exploit legal loopholes and pay minimal taxes. The European Commission could soon require Apple -- and other companies using the same loopholes -- to pay higher taxes in the region. For Apple, the difference would impact its bottom line, but likely not in any critical manner.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 66
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    Interesting move. So I wonder this is any connection to the recent EU attitude to Apple's tax set up there. Is this a possible way to mitigate potential higher taxes?
  • Reply 2 of 66
    What the heck do they manufacture in Ireland? Nothing on the web explaining what they do there.
  • Reply 3 of 66
    frankiefrankie Posts: 381member

    I would say without a doubt yes.  Follow the $ as always.  And we all know corps pay as little as 'legally' possible no matter what. 

  • Reply 4 of 66
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,402member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by frankie View Post

     

    And we all know corps pay as little as 'legally' possible no matter what. 


    As they well should.

  • Reply 5 of 66
    thewhitefalconthewhitefalcon Posts: 4,453member
    frankie wrote: »
    I would say without a doubt yes.  Follow the $ as always.  And we all know corps pay as little as 'legally' possible no matter what. 

    I'm sure you contribute more than you're legally required to. :rolleyes:
  • Reply 6 of 66
    afrodriafrodri Posts: 190member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post





    I'm sure you contribute more than you're legally required to. image

     

    What, you don't add the customary 15% tip on your taxes???? /s

  • Reply 7 of 66
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    What the heck is a "Traveller halting site" and is "Traveller" a proper noun? It's basic reporting to describe in jargon-free language something which may be new or unfamiliar in a story. So..?
  • Reply 8 of 66
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    Quote:



    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post



    What the heck is a "Traveller halting site"? It's basic reporting to describe in jargon-free language something which may be new or unfamiliar in a story. So..?

    Travellers are a small Irish ethnic group who maintain a nomadic tradition. So apparently, this site is used by them as one of their frequented sites to live on temporarily.

     

    (corrected spelling)

  • Reply 9 of 66
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    sflagel wrote: »
    Travelers are a small Irish ethnic group who maintain a nomadic tradition. So apparently, this site is sued by them as one of their frequented sites to live on temporarily.

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Travellers

    How interesting. Never heard of this group before.
  • Reply 10 of 66
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by frankie View Post

     

    I would say without a doubt yes.  Follow the $ as always.  And we all know corps pay as little as 'legally' possible no matter what. 


    If it is so, Ireland receives what the tax breaks' original purpose was: to attract investment.

  • Reply 11 of 66
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    So the name in the story is also misspelled?

    More likely that this site's spell-checker uses the dictionary of a mediocre dialect of the English language and I fell for it.... It should, of course, be "Travellers".

  • Reply 12 of 66
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Interesting move. So I wonder this is any connection to the recent EU attitude to Apple's tax set up there. Is this a possible way to mitigate potential higher taxes?

    I definitely believe the two are connected. Apple basically putting this on the table and Ireland will have to fight the EU to keep these jobs. Ireland only cares about making sure people have jobs there they do not care what the rest of the EU thinks. Back in the 90's when Apple was hurting and were shutting things down left and right Ireland was on the chopping block until the Ireland Prime Minsters made a trip to Cupertino and when he left Apple's Ireland operations were left intact.
  • Reply 13 of 66
    "exploit legal loopholes"?

    Quite the definition for a company running their business according to the law.

    A "loophole" is a poorly worded law such that you can get around the spirit or intent of the law due to some error or technicality in how it's written. A country offering favorable tax breaks for companies in order to attract business is not a loophole.
  • Reply 14 of 66
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    "exploit legal loopholes"?

    Quite the definition for a company running their business according to the law.

    A "loophole" is a poorly worded law such that you can get around the spirit or intent of the law due to some error or technicality in how it's written. A country offering favorable tax breaks for companies in order to attract business is not a loophole.

    The ability to exploit loopholes is a competitive advantage and not necessarily a negative, IMO.
  • Reply 15 of 66
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post



    What the heck is a "Traveller halting site" and is "Traveller" a proper noun? It's basic reporting to describe in jargon-free language something which may be new or unfamiliar in a story. So..?



    They used to also be called gypsies or tinkers.  I am not sure if there was any past connection to Romany gypsies.  A traveller halting site is usually easily recognisable by it's visual similarity to a rubbish dump.

  • Reply 16 of 66
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    Ireland once had a significant share of the world-wide computer manufacturing/assembly market. In the latter 90's even Apple decided to outsource the production that had been done in their Cork factory, first to LG in Wales and then to Foxconn in China. I don't know what's changed economically for it to now make sense to move production back to Ireland. Perhaps by producing the actual product there and not just transferring IP there will be a tax advantage? It looks like the tax situation will be changing so maybe that's what's driving the new interest in Ireland manufacturing.
  • Reply 17 of 66
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by EricTheHalfBee View Post



    A "loophole" is a poorly worded law such that you can get around the spirit or intent of the law due to some error or technicality in how it's written. 

    Apparently, some people in the EU branches of government think that this is a very accurate description of what the Double Irish is.... I don't have an opinion whether they are right or wrong (I hear there will be a very expensive and time consuming review regarding this very matter), but surprised that there are so many international corporate tax matter experts that have time to post on a forum such as this one.

  • Reply 18 of 66
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    "exploit legal loopholes"?

    Quite the definition for a company running their business according to the law.

    A "loophole" is a poorly worded law such that you can get around the spirit or intent of the law due to some error or technicality in how it's written. A country offering favorable tax breaks for companies in order to attract business is not a loophole.
    You're right. A loophole would be more along the lines of discovering a way to avoid taxes altogether by creating a series of companies and property transfers that results in not being tax resident anywhere in the world. That wouldn't be adhering to the "spirit of the tax laws" if it were to happen, right?
  • Reply 19 of 66
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    Ireland once had a significant share of the world-wide computer manufacturing/assembly market. In the latter 90's even Apple decided to outsource the production that had been done in their Cork factory, first to LG in Wales and then to Foxconn in China. I don't know what's changed economically for it to now make sense to move production back to Ireland. Perhaps by producing the actual product there and not just transferring IP there will be a tax advantage? It looks like the tax situation will be changing so maybe that's what's driving the new interest in Ireland manufacturing.

    Perhaps this is a public counter-offer to the attempted tax extortion situation to diffuse the bloodlust of the vampiric EU political class.
  • Reply 20 of 66
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    Perhaps this is a public counter-offer to the attempted tax extortion situation to diffuse the bloodlust of the vampiric EU political class.

    You forgot two important words: "... the bloodlust of the vampiric democratically elected EU political class".

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