A Chinese news agency reported that Seagate intends to boost its investment in the country by $192 million. The company has currently invested $20 million at a plant in Shenzen, and that figure will be boosted by $122 million. Seagate's other plant, in Wuxi, will be boosted from a current figure of $30 million to $120 million. According to the reports, Seagate wants to turn its formerly low key HDD manufacturing in mainland China into major manufacturing centres. Both plants exported 26 million HDDs last year. The attraction for Seagate is undoubtedly low labour rates, with staff paid approximately $30 a month on mainland China. This, from Seagate's point of view, compares favourably to labour rates in Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. ®