Information-storage provider Maxtor Corp. Thursday announced a significant restructuring, designed to accelerate the anticipated expense reduction opportunities in the desktop hard drive business following its recent merger with Quantum HDD.
As part of the restructuring, the company anticipates a reduction of an additional 700 to 800 employees domestically over the next six months beyond what had been previously announced. Additionally, the company announced an immediate reduction of approximately 700 employees at its manufacturing facilities in Singapore.
The company has already laid off about 800 Colorado Springs, Colo. workers during the last year, according to The Colorado Springs Gazette.
“The second quarter has been characterized by weaker than expected demand for hard drives, affecting inventory levels and pricing,” said Mike Cannon, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “With the outlook for continued weakness in the PC market and limited visibility for the remainder of this year, we believe it is necessary to both accelerate the expense reduction opportunities available through our merger with Quantum HDD and to balance our manufacturing workforce with expected levels of demand.”
“Our view that the storage industry is poised for strong growth remains unchanged. We believe that the actions that we have announced today will position Maxtor to take full advantage of the potential growth opportunities as the economy recovers,” he added.