Microsoft becomes largest exporting company in Ireland

Dublin: US tech firm Microsoft has become the largest exporting company in Ireland, taking over from Google, a report has said.

The report, published by the Irish Exporters Association (IEA), in association with financial group Investec, showed that Microsoft, with over 1,200 employees in Ireland, had a big increase in export turnover of 21 percent, up from 15 billion euros to 18.2 billion euros year on year, Xinhua news agency reported.

Investec is a leading international, specialist-banking group with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Microsoft was followed by Google, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and Ingersoll Rand, the report said.

The data from the report also showed stellar growth in the manufacturing and services sectors with the value of exports from the top five exporters increasing by 23.5 percent on the previous year.

Of the top 20 exporting companies listed in the report, nine of them are focused within the ICT arena, with seven in the medical and pharma sectors, according to the report.

"Our exporting companies, both Irish and multinational, have delivered extraordinary achievements over the past four years, and record levels of job-creation," said Irish Jobs Minister Richard Bruton.

Almost half of the 125,000 extra jobs that have been created have been in exporting companies, Bruton said.