Shaky Seagate Technology Inc is to close its factory in Clonmel, Ireland (CI No 3,310) resulting in the loss of 1,400 jobs, in an attempt to remain competitive, the company said. Just last week Seagate announced it was postponing plans for a further six months to build a $223m computer disk manufacturing plant in County Cork (CI No 3,265). These plans remain unchanged, it said. The company says it was forced to shut the plant in the face of major changes within the disk drive industry, including over capacity and pricing pressures. The Scotts Valley, California- based operation has been under pressure for some time now, warning back at the beginning of the summer that its fourth quarter performance would fall short of analyst expectations (CI No 3,173), and reported actual losses down 42% at $59m (CI No 3,200). The Clonmel plant will close when the current product build has been completed, scheduled for the beginning of next year. Seagate will take a restructuring charge for the closure. The company says it will continue to manufacture drives at other assembly plants across the world.
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