The company, the world's largest manufacturer of hard disc drives, said the multi million pound investment will go into new equipment, research and development, infrastructure and IT systems that will enable the factory to retain its position as the lowest cost and biggest producer of read-write heads in the world.

John Spangler, vice president at the Springtown plant in Londonderry, said Seagate will remain at the forefront of the technology and efficiency battle currently being waged in the disc drive industry.

"This will allow our Springtown facility to continue supporting Seagate's market-leading position in the ever-expanding hard disc drive market. Springtown is already one of the leading producers of read-write heads in the world and is the primary supplier of heads for Seagate; this is a position that will be enhanced by this new investment."



"The success of this factory since it started production in 1994 and the continued success we see for it into the future are evidence of Northern Ireland's capacity to compete in the global marketplace. Northern Ireland has all of the right ingredients, including a business-friendly environment, a wealth of talent from a well educated, flexible and committed workforce, and an understanding of the importance of the knowledge-based sector for future economic development," said Mr Spangler. "These are messages I was happy to bring to the US-NI Investment Conference held in Belfast in May."


Londonderry MP Mark Durkan is "very well-earned and very well-deserved for the workforce in Derry."
"We clearly have a world leading facility here at Springtown, and a company looking to make an investment which can choose locations worldwide and who have a lot of options.



"That is to the credit of the management here, and it's also to the credit of the local workforce.



"But what we have to do now is to see what more we can do to make sure that a facility like this stays competitive in the years beyond this current round of investment.



"We have to see what more we can do in terms of workforce development and supplying the quality of labour that companies like Seagate will need in the future.



"We also need to see what more we can do in terms of infrastructure and access for the whole business environment here in the Northwest.



"Seagate as a company are doing a lot here. We must now make sure that we as an economy and as a government – in relation to policy and enterprise – support them in helping us to be world players," he said.