Seagate to lay off 2,000 in Singapore

Hard disk maker Seagate Technologies said it will lay off 2,000 workers in Singapore as it shifts its manufacturing facilities from the city-state.

The move follows a slide in electronics exports from Singapore this year due to weaker consumer demand in the economic downturn.

“We are moving our hard disk operation at Ang Mo Kio (in Singapore) to other Seagate sites in other countries,” company spokesperson Lotus Tan said, but did not provide further details. She said Seagate employed a total of 8,000 workers in Singapore and would keep Seagate’s Asia headquarters, media operation as well as a product development and design centre.

Singapore’s overall unemployment rate stood at 3.3 per cent in the second quarter, but the number of people employed in Singapore fell by 12,400 in April-June, twice as much as in the first quarter.

Seagate said in a statement its affected employees will be offered severance packages. It said the majority of Seagate’s disk-drive manufacturing were spread across Thailand, China and Malaysia.

Tuesday’s announcement came after Seagate said in May it had initiated a restructuring plan that included a reduction of about 1,100 employees.