Facebook has emerged as the first potential tenant of the redeveloped Capitol cinema site in Cork city centre.

The social network’s expansion in Cork city comes on the heels of the acquisition of Tyndall spin-out InfiLED by Facebook subsidiary Oculus, makers of the Oculus VR headset.

Oculus acquired InfiniLED in recent months in a move aimed at future-proofing its virtual reality display systems.

Cork is already home to tech giants Apple and IBM and in recent weeks, security giant Sophos bought local software company Barricade for an undisclosed sum.

Apple is also expanding in Cork, with plans to take on 1,000 additional people, bringing its workforce in the city to 6,000.

Facebook Cork selects Cork for its social graces

According to the Irish Examiner, Facebook is in advanced discussions with property developer JCD for the top floor of the €50m Capitol office and shops scheme on St Patrick’s Street and Grand Parade.

The building is due for completion in early 2017.

It is likely that the former InfiniLED team will be located in the new Facebook offices.

Facebook’s European headquarters in Dublin employs around 1,300 people, and in March it announced plans to create 200 more jobs in the city.

The social networking giant is also building a massive €200m data centre in Clonee, Co Meath.

St Patrick’s Street in Cork. Image: Gabriel12/Shutterstock