Northern Ireland's Factories Grew 9% in a Year, Against 1.2% for the UK — and the BBC Says Data-Centre Demand Appears to Be Behind It

The takeaway: Northern Ireland's manufacturing output was 9.0% higher in April to June 2026 than a year earlier, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). The UK figure was 1.2%. The BBC's economics and business editor in Northern Ireland, John Campbell, reports that demand for data-centre equipment "appears to be driving" the boom. He notes the growth has been concentrated in a subsector that includes a cluster of local firms making power equipment for data centres. The official figures themselves don't give a reason.

What the official figures show

NISRA's quarterly Index of Production, published on 17 September, shows:

• Manufacturing: up 2.9% on the quarter and 9.0% on the year. The UK equivalents were 1.0% and 1.2%. NISRA says Northern Ireland manufacturing output has reached a new ten-year high.
• All production (manufacturing plus energy, water and mining): up 7.8% on the year, against 0.3% for the UK.
• The divergence is recent. NISRA says the Northern Ireland and UK manufacturing indices followed a broadly similar trend from 2017 before they started to diverge in the second quarter of 2025.

The standout is the subsector NISRA labels "Computer, electronic, electrical & optical products". In NISRA's tables its index rose from 114.0 in April to June 2025 to 145.4 in April to June 2026, about 28% in a year. That matches the BBC's figure of "almost 28%".

Why the BBC links it to AI data centres

Data centres need a large, uninterrupted power supply. The BBC reports that several Northern Ireland companies specialise in designing and making these power systems, and that the fast-growing subsector includes them.

• TES, Ballykelly. Its managing director, Michael Beagan, told the BBC last month that demand was "astronomical". The BBC reports the firm was recently taken over by a large French company. "When we started on this site four years ago there was basically a team of two. We're now at about 175 employees and growing," he said.
• Seagate, Londonderry. The BBC says the strong performance "may also reflect" data-centre demand for the hard disc drives made at Seagate's Londonderry factory, which AI companies use to store data.

The BBC also points to the Republic of Ireland: it reports that the Central Bank of Ireland said imports of "machinery and equipment" rose at an annual rate of 56% in the second quarter, a pattern it called "consistent with continued AI and data centre investment and the imports of the hardware typically used in them."

What the numbers don't tell you

NISRA reports output by subsector, not by customer. So the link to data centres comes from the BBC's reporting and the companies involved, not from the statistics. The subsector also covers much more than data-centre equipment, and it wasn't the only strong one: in NISRA's tables, basic and fabricated metal products rose about 22% on the year (99.1 to 120.8) and chemicals and pharmaceuticals about 15% (103.2 to 119.0).

One quarter's annual growth figure can also move a lot. The trend is worth watching over the next few releases.

Why it matters

In our view, this is a useful counterweight to the usual data-centre debate in the UK, which tends to be about planning, power and water. That's the argument playing out in Scotland right now, where MSPs have backed a non-binding pause on AI data-centre planning decisions. Northern Ireland may show the other side: if the BBC's reading is right, making the equipment data centres need could bring work to a region without it hosting the server halls.