Seagate has announced that it is to close its factory in Co Derry with the loss of more than 900 jobs next year.
The US-owned Seagate Technologies plant in Limavady, opened in Co Derry in 1997.
The plant employs 768 permanent and 159 temporary workers.
The company is to begin a formal redundancy consultation process with its employees.
The factory manufactures computer hard drives and other information storage products.
Plant manager Dr William O'Kane said a number of factors had made the operation there uncompetitive.
He said the company had examined several options to maintain some or all of the facility but none proved financially viable.
Much of the company's work will be carried out at the company's new facility in Malaysia.
The MLA for east Derry, John Dallat of the SDLP, said the closure will be a big blow to the area.
The executive has set itself a target of creating 6,500 new private sector jobs during the next four years.
The North currently has an unemployment rate of 3.6%, which is significantly lower than most areas of the UK and also below the unemployment rate in the Republic of Ireland.
