Sure, they still make wonderful sweaters, tasty dairy products and popular adult beverages in Ireland.

But by the 1990s one-third of the Pentium chips manufactured to meet global PC demand were produced in Ireland. Now, the biopharmaceutical industry in Ireland is making products so valuable that they could eclipse even the Pentium chip’s impact on the march of history, reports the Dublin-based siliconrepublic.com.

A few details:

• Ireland is now the 7th largest exporter of medicine and pharmaceutical products in the world.
• Nine of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies have substantial operations in Ireland and more than 25,000 people are employed in the industry.
• There are 90 biopharma plants in Ireland, of which 33 are approved by the Federal Drugs Administration to export products for consumption in the U.S.

Read the full story.