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Article

26 Feb 2015

Author:
Paul McDougall, International Business Times

US tech companies build data centres in Europe, anticipating privacy regulations & reacting to tax avoidance allegations

"Why Are Apple, Amazon Data Center Jobs Going To Europe? Blame The NSA", 26 Feb 2015

Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc. are undertaking the construction to appease European Union watchdogs who are mulling a host of new regulations to safeguard Europeans’ privacy in the wake of revelations made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden....“Organizations now are becoming so much more acutely aware of their responsibilities in terms of data protection and protecting intellectual property,” said Garry Connolly, president of Host in Ireland...

A number of U.S. tech companies, including Apple and Amazon, have come under the scrutiny of tax authorities in both Europe and the U.S. for setting up so-called European headquarters in low-tax countries, such as Ireland, where they have little business activity. Establishing key operations such as data centers could help make their European domiciles appear more legitimate.