Who Moved My Singapore Cheese

This is probably just the tip of the iceberg as Singapore faces an exodus of low value industries from Singapore. Too much state intervention has rendered our local job market to suffer from sudden and major structural changes time and again.


Seagate to shut plant
By Chan Hian Hou

HARD disk maker Seagate will close down its Ang Mo Kio hard disk plant by the end of next year.

In a statement to the media on Tuesday, Seagate Technology announced that it will 'relocate its hard disk manufacturing operations from the Ang Mo Kio facility in Singapore to other existing Seagate sites'.

Retrenched workers will be offered an unspecified severance benefits; some will also be offered work in its Woodlands or Science Park sites.

'This consolidation is necessary in order for Seagate to further increase efficiency and reduce costs by leveraging investments across fewer manufacturing sites,' it said.

The Straits Times was unable to reach a Seagate spokesman, but according to Seagate's website, the one million square foot Ang Mo Kio plant employs more than 4,000 staff.

Seagate, the world's biggest hard disk maker, is not exiting Singapore totally though.

Singapore, it said, 'will remain a key strategic partner for Seagate, with a focus on high value activities, and Seagate will continue to make strategic investments here'.

It has a disk media plant in Woodlands, and a R&D centre off Science Park.