History (1991): Seagate HDD Factory in Dublin, Ireland

Seagate Technology (Scotts Valley, CA) and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Ireland have entered into an agreement to establish a $50 million HDD drive factory in the Dublin area.

It is also expected to create more than 650 jobs in the first 2 years of plant operation, with the potential for another 650 over the next 5 years.

Seagate plans to invest approximately $20 million on land and facilities and an additional $30 million on capital equipment and tooling over the 5-year period.

In turn, the Irish Government, through the IDA, will make a contribution towards capital costs and will provide a training grant based on the generation of 1,295 new jobs over 5 years.

The Dublin factory will be Seagate’s first plant in Europe to manufacture complete HDDs. Products to be manufactured include the Wren 5 and Wren 6, the Sabre 6, the Elite and the ST1480 family of 3.5-inch products. The ST1096 family will also be manufactured.

The only other plant owned by Seagate in Europe is in Palmela, Portugal. It’s Peripheral Components International (PCI) , that manufactures disk heads and that was recuperated by Seagate when it acquired Imprimis.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠36, published on January 1991.

Note: Seagate Technology Republic Ireland Limited was dissolved in April 2017.