It emerged overnight that Dell and EMC, which principally produces energy efficient information storage services, are in discussions which may lead to a full or partial merger.

Dell employs about 2,300 people in Ireland at facilities in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, principally in research and development and customer support.

EMC has close to 2,500 employees here mainly in Cork, which hosts the group’s largest manufacturing facility outside the US.

It’s not clear what impact any full or partial merger would have on Irish operations.

EMC has come under pressure from shareholder activist, Elliott Management about its business strategy and falling share price. The company will also soon lose its current CEO to retirement.

Dell, which went private two years ago, is realigning itself from PC manufacture to a broader range of IT and cloud-based services and EMC’s storage technology would add momentum to that strategy.