IBM to Produce Disk Drives for Western Digital

IRVINE — Continuing a long partnership with a computer industry giant, Western Digital Corp. said Tuesday that IBM’s plant in Havant, England, will produce its disk drives for the European market.

Western Digital’s plant in Singapore now makes all of its disk drives. The deal with IBM will allow it to cut costs. Production of the new Caviar family of drives will begin this year and hit full volume next year. Gary Marks, vice president of marketing, said the move will have no effect on Western Digital’s work force.

Of the 4.4 million disk drives that Western Digital sold in fiscal 1993, about 1 million were sold in Europe. Next year, the Havant plant will make as many as 100,000 drives a month, Marks said. Disk drives store data on personal computers.