Western Digital Corp. eliminated 81 positions from its Irvine headquarters in its second round of layoffs in the past three months.
The latest round—combined with an earlier cut of 115 jobs at headquarters—represents a reduction of about 10% of the work force in Irvine.
The company had about 1,900 workers here through March, when it was the third largest local employer among public companies based in OC, according to Business Journal research.
The recent moves have come amid waning global demand for hard drives, the company’s core product line.
The most recent layoffs were part of a larger restructuring that cut 180 positions companywide in response to the “continually changing markets for our products” and “global macroeconomic conditions,” the company told the Business Journal in a statement.
Most of the layoffs were in the U.S.—primarily in California—and will take effect between now and late October, according to the company and filings with California’s Employment Development Department.
Most of the recent job losses have affected engineers, managers and administrative personnel.
Western Digital employs about 76,000 around the globe, the vast majority of whom work in manufacturing operations overseas, primarily at the company’s plants in Thailand. It has cut about 4,500 jobs companywide in the past 12 months and about 30,000 in the past four years.
The world’s largest hard disk drive maker in sold 228.7 million hard drive units in the 12 months through June, the end of its fiscal year, down from 249.2 units in the same period a year earlier, or 8.2%, according to its recently filed annual report.
The latest development comes as Western Digital awaits approval from Chinese regulators to integrate its HGST Inc. subsidiary, which includes operations around the globe, as well as about 41,000 employees.
