More than $250m invested in Irish artificial intelligence firms over first half of 2026

More than $250 million (€214 million) was invested in Irish artificial intelligence (AI) companies in the first half of the year, new data has shown, as global investment in the technology reached an all-time high.

The report, EY Ireland AI Investment Trends, found investment was spread across a range of sectors, including healthcare, quantum computing, space technology and AI infrastructure. Among the big deals during the period was the $110 million in tax automation group Fonoa, a $60 million investment in quantum computing business Equal1 and €49 million in fleet safety tech firm CameraMatics.

The report also revealed there was significant spending in Irish data centre developers and engineering companies, with H&MV among the companies benefiting from the investment into the sector. The company recently announced it had secured €750 million in further investment.

“Ireland already has or is actively building many of the capabilities required to benefit from the continued growth in global AI investment,” said Grit Young, EY Ireland partner and technology, media and telecoms lead. “These include skilled talent, energy and digital infrastructure, a vibrant AI R&D sector, strong industry-academia collaboration and a growing AI start-up community.

“When you add some of the world’s leading data centre engineering and construction companies to that mix, Ireland has all the ingredients for success. The challenge now is to go faster and further in supporting the incredible entrepreneurial talent that we have in Ireland.”

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The report found enterprise AI adoption in Ireland more than doubled between 2023 and 2025, reaching 20 per cent of businesses. This was in line with the EU average, but behind Denmark and Finland at 42 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.

In total, global venture capital investment in AI was approximately $430 billion in the first half of 2026. Spending in the April to June quarter exceeded the $254 billion invested in the whole of 2025.

With Amazon, Alphabet and Meta expected to spend between $490 billion and $520 billion in 2026, the industry is on track for an annual run-rate of close to $1 trillion, despite fears of an artificial intelligence bubble.