Seagate Technology, the American data storage solutions company, is to make 70 people redundant at its facility in Derry.

Senior management from the group briefed the company’s workforce on Monday for the first time about the planned job losses and its intention to employ what it described as “both a voluntary and involuntary process” to reduce its workforce.

Seagate is one of the largest local employers in the North West and currently employs nearly 1,400 people.

According to the American group since 1993 it has invested more than £1 billion in terms of capital, research and development spend, salaries and sourcing in Northern Ireland.

Just two years ago it also unveiled a £34.7 million research and development project.

The company develops and manufactures read-write heads for hard disk drives at its Springtown facility in Derry.

However, on Monday it warned that it needed to take a “number of actions” to respond to new demand levels within the industry..

In a statement Seagate said the change in demand levels was the result of “a very dynamic and disrupted storage industry, driven by accelerating usage shifts of technologies and architectures by end users, and underpinned by a weak macro-economic environment”.

“It is not easy to make decisions that affect people’s lives in this way, but we believe this is the best way forward for the company right now.

“At the Springtown facility, approximately 70 employees (about 5% of our headcount) will be affected by this action”.

Seagate may be one of the North’s long established inward investor but it also has a turbulent history locally.

In 2007 the American group closed Springtown’s sister plant in Limavady with the loss of 927 jobs.