History (1991): HDD Makers Conner Peripherals and Seagate Cut Force

The two largest independent HOD manufacturers are cutting down their workforce, but more severely at Seagate Technology (Scotts Valley, CA) than at Conner Peripherals (San Jose, CA).

On June 30, Seagate laid off 1,200 employees but mostly in its non manufacturing staff, which represents 18% of this part of the employees and 3% of its worldwide workforce that counts 41,000 workers. Cutting down was mainly in USA and in Europe, and not in Asia where its large plants are.

This decision is the result of a severe competition and a price war in the HDD drive market in the middle of a general computer market that is improving very slowly in a morose overall economic climate.

It’s not the first time that Seagate takes such a decision to try to return to profitability. In 1988, before it acquired Imprimis, the company had laid off 1,000 people.

For Conner, the news is more unexpected. But it only concerns 80 workers in USA, officially on account of a planned manufacturing shift to its offshore facilities. Conner employs a little over 10,000 people throughout the world and 1,600 in USA.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠43, published on August 1991.