The jobs of more than half the remaining workforce at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast are under threat.
According to sources in the yard, around 200 of the 390 core workers at the are facing redundancy.
The news comes hours after telecommunications company Nortel said it was getting rid of a further 200 workers at its Co Antrim plant.
Harland and Wolff, which built the Titanic, has been on the brink of collapse for more than a decade.
Two years ago Norwegian parent company Olsen Energy cut the workforce from 1,200 to 600. The numbers have continued to decline.
A restructuring rescue plan four months ago was to have breathed new life into the shipyard and secure the future of the remaining 390 workers.
The shipyard has nothing in its order books beyond two roll-on roll-off ferries nearing completion under a contract with the Ministry of Defence.
One is due to be delivered before the end of the year and the other in the first few months of next year.
A company spokesman described talk of 200 jobs going as speculation "at the moment".
However, it is understood that it will not be long before unions and workers get formal notification of the redundancies.
PA