Seagate shuts Suzhou plant due to weak global demand

American computer hardware manufacturer Seagate Technology has closed one of its two assembly factories in China due to weak global demand for laptops, personal computers, and corporate hard-drives, company officials said Monday.

The past year has been very challenging for Seagate, requiring many difficult decisions. We had to say goodbye to 14 percent of our colleagues at sites around the world as we have significantly reduced our global footprint, said Mike Small, the company's vice president for tax and international trade administration.

Another company official based in China confirmed that Seagate has terminated contracts with employees of its Suzhou plant, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Seagate still has its plant in the nearby city of Wuxi and has increased investment there.

Small said the Wuxi plant remains vital to the company's global supply chain.

Seagate remains confident and committed to the Chinese market and is looking forward to releasing new products on security surveillance, robotics, Internet of Things, and cloud computing.