Seagate Technology Inc, the world’s largest disk drive maker, is to invest RM800 million ($216m) expanding its Malaysian manufacturing operations. The company’s CEO, William D Watkins, said the new commitment will bring the company’s total investment in Malaysia since 1988 to RM2.5 billion ($675m).
The money will be used to buy new equipment and upgrade technology at the company’s four plants in Penang and two plants in Ipoh, which together employ 15,000 people. We want to install better equipment to enhance technologies such as photo-lithography and ion-milling for the production of magnetic heads, he said.
The bulk of the new investment will be spent in the Penang plant, the largest disk-drive magnetic heads facility in the world. The plant has recently begun manufacturing Barracuda ATA drives, the company’s first product with giant magneto-resistive (GMR) heads.
