History (1993): Seagate Builds $50 Million Expansion of Recording Head Operations in Penang, Malaysia

Seagate Technology (Scotts Valley, CA) began construction of a $50 million expansion of the company’s recording head operations in Penang, Malaysia.

The 212,000 square-foot addition, which will be adjacent to the existing Kampung Jawa facility, will bring Malaysian operations to more than 459,000 square-feet of operating space, and a total employee population of 5,000 at full capacity.

The company anticipates that demand for its thin-film recording heads will increase to double that of recent levels by 2Q93. The production is increased both to meet the increased demand for its own HDDs, as well as accommodate the company’s decision to aggressively pursue OEMs as customers for Seagate recording heads.

The facility will feature new manufacturing processes necessary for the production of inductive and magneto-resistive recording heads.

The new processes being introduced in Penang include high vacuum technology, photo lithography and ion milling.

Production is expected to begin in the new facility by September of this year, with a staff of more than 1,200 engineers, technicians and skilled operators at full capacity.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠61, published on February 1993.