Major Fujitsu job announcement later today (Tuesday)

It’s been reported in local media this morning (Tuesday, December 10) that Fujitsu Services Limited is set to create 192 positions at its offices in Londonderry ahead of an expected jobs announcement later today.

Fujitsu senior management chose Londonderry as the location for a new flagship premises in 2006 due to the perceived availability of skilled low salary workers in close proximity to its customer base in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Back in May 2010, documents obtained by the Sentinel showed the new IT Applications Development Centre at Timber Quay was approved by former Investment Minister Nigel Dodds in March 2008 with Invest NI contributing 2.26m in financial assistance to secure the project and leverage a total company investment of circa 8.8m.

It was officially opened in May 2008 with the development initially promising the creation of 150 new high quality lT jobs.

According to an internal Invest NI briefing Fujitsu conducted a “major strategic review” to assess the “risk/cost” profile of a number of competing regions in 2006 and eventually chose Londonderry and Belfast as the most appropriate location for its new Near Shore Centre.

A number of factors were considered. These included geopolitical, socioeconomic, security, privacy, and legal protection considerations as well as the availability of skilled human resources.

The briefing to Mr Dodds prior to Fujitsu Services Limited’s investment announcement advised that the region had been sold on the basis of a pre-existing Fujitsu presence; advanced telecoms infrastructure; the ability to recruit, retain and develop highly skilled and motivated resources within a lower salary inflation environment.