Seagate creates 30 jobs through £115m investment

Seagate vice president Fergus O'Donnell chatting to First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly at Thursday's announcement

The US-owned technology company Seagate has announced a £115m investment at its factory in Londonderry, creating around 30 jobs.

The money will fund research and development at the plant on the Buncrana Road in Springtown.

The First and Deputy First Ministers, Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, as well as the Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald were at the site on Thursday morning and welcomed the development.

The Derry operation opened in 1993 and currently employs 1,500 people, making it one of the largest employers in the north west.

The Seagate plant in Derry is one of the biggest employers in the north west

The company announced an investment of £100m with an additional £15m from Invest NI.

The money will be used for research and development over the next five years.

It's seen as crucial for a company at the cutting edge of developing new technology for the home and business sector.

In Springtown Seagate manufactures a tiny specialised part for hard drives called a recording head.

The company believes the investment will "usher in the next generation" of hard drive innovation and research and development at the plant.

Vice president Fergus O'Donnell said the investment would "drive opportunity" as they continued to invest in a world-class team and facility at the site.

"Innovation and partnerships are central to our success and will strengthen our regional and global leadership in technology and manufacturing excellence," he said.

In February 2024, the company said it had cut almost 300 jobs through voluntary redundancy in the previous year.

The job losses had come after a strategic report filed by Seagate Technology (Ireland) said the company had been forced to cut its workforce "dramatically" in response to tougher economic conditions.

The cost of the restructuring plan was about $17.2m £14.1m ($17.2m).

After those three hundred job losses there were genuine fears over the long term sustainability of this factory here in Springtown.

But this new investment in research and development is being viewed as a major vote of confidence in the region in what is a highly competitive global market.