Lake Forest-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. plans to stop making parts for other companies in May and is restructuring some operations, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Western Digital is set to stop selling drive parts to other companies in May, a result of its $1 billion acquisition of San Jose’s Komag Inc. in 2007.
Komag makes thin-film metal disks, the part of a drive that stores data. As an independent company, Komag supplied parts to Western Digital and other drive makers.
Western Digital bought the company so it could produce just about all of a drive on its own.
As part of the move, the company plans to move some production from one its Malaysia plants to two others in the country, cutting about 770 jobs there.
In San Jose, the company plans to cut about 30 jobs.
Western Digital employs about 42,500 people, including 1,050 in Orange County.
The restructuring is expected to cost $16 million, the details of which Western Digital still is working out.
A charge, if any, could appear in results for the current quarter and be reflected as an adjustment to the price of the Komag buy.
Shares of Western Digital have pulled back some with the broader market downturn this year. But the stock has been on a tear for the past year, nearly doubling to about $6.5 billion in market value.
