Seagate Technology, the world's leading supplier of hard disc drives, yesterday announced it is to invest £83 million (€123 million) in its two factories in Derry and Limavady.

The investment will lead to the creation over the next three years of 200 new jobs in the company's Derry plant at Springtown and 100 jobs in its plant in Limavady.

The company, which has a Northern Ireland workforce of 1,800, will receive almost £21 million in assistance from Invest Northern Ireland towards the project costs in both plants.

John Spangler, Seagate's vice-president and manager at the Springtown facility said the company's Northern Ireland operations were the most productive facilities of their kind in the world.

"This investment will enable us to continue with this success into the future. Since we set up here in 1993 we have invested heavily in our people and our technology to ensure that we are the leading edge of read-write head manufacturing for hard disc drives.

"The local community will also benefit as the numbers working at Seagate's factories in the northwest rises to 2,100 over the next three years. We have an annual wage bill of over £45 million and in addition we spend £11 million annually on locally sources goods and services," he said.

Dr Brian Burns, plant manager at Seagate's Limavady manufacturing facility, said the investment would enable the plant to develop and implement new technologies.

"As the digital era continues to gather pace and the demand for digital storage becomes greater, we are uniquely positioned to benefit. We see great opportunities in the traditional area of computer storage and in the fast development consumer electronics environment", he said.

Welcoming the announcement during a visit to Derry, Northern Ireland secretary of state Peter Hain said the investment would create new quality employment opportunities in advanced manufacturing in the northwest.