Medtech company Dexcom has announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Galway which will create up to 1,000 jobs in the next five years.
The site in Athenry will be injected with €300m in investment over a five year period and will be used to make the company’s glucose monitoring product for people with diabetes.
Dexcom said it expects to provide about 500 construction jobs while the facility is being built and up to 1,000 high tech graduate and technician level positions once the site is running at full capacity.
The facility is still subject to planning permission but has been backed by IDA, the State body responsible for securing foreign direct investment.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney said if the site is approved, it will become Dexcom’s first manufacturing facility in Europe. It already has operations in the US and Malaysia.
Dexcom’s ambitions for Galway fits into an overall plan by IDA to create a “cluster” of Medtech and manufacturing firms around the West of Ireland.
Ahead of this announcement, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met with Dexcom representatives last year at the company’s headquarters in San Diego.
“This will be one of the biggest single private sector investments ever in the West of Ireland,” said Mr Varadker.
The development has the capacity to produce millions of Dexcom CGM sensors each year, which are used by people with diabetes.
“With the continued success of our Dexcom G7 (glucose monitoring product) in Europe, we are pursuing an ambitious growth strategy that requires increased manufacturing capacity to support our rapidly expanding European user base,” said Barry Regan, executive vice president of global operations at Dexcom.
