Chinese-owned video app TikTok, facing the threat of a US ban, said on Thursday it will set up its first European data centre in Ireland, extending its presence in the country where it already has a hub dealing with regional regulatory issues.
TRUMP HAD SAID THE COMPANY WAS A NATIONAL SECURITY RISK
TikTok’s 420 million euro ($499 million) investment in Ireland comes at a fraught time in relations between China and the West, with disagreements on a range of issues from trade and the handling of the coronavirus to the political situation in Hong Kong.
US President Donald Trump and other American lawmakers have said the company is a national security risk and Trump has said he will ban the service in the United States on Sept. 15 if its U.S. operations are not sold to Microsoft.
Ireland is one of Europe’s biggest hubs for data centres and already hosts operations for major technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
TikTok’s data centre will create hundreds of jobs, enhance TikTok’s global capability and signals its long-term commitment to Ireland, global chief information security officer Roland Cloutier wrote in a blog post here.