Japan's Hitachi Ltd. said Thursday that one of its subsidiaries would close a plant in Mexico with the loss of about 4,400 jobs as the technology firm reorganises its hard-disk drive operations. The job cuts are equivalent to about 11 percent of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc.'s 40,000-strong global workforce, the company said in a statement.

The closure of the Guadalajara plant is part of a broader restructuring plan that the company hopes will save it 300 million dollars over five years.

At the same time, Hitachi plans to expand its hard-disk drive operations in the Philippines, China and Thailand to bring them closer together.

The overall Hitachi group has been hit this year by weak sales of DVD recorders, lower hard-disk drive prices and the cost of repairs to damaged turbines supplied to two nuclear power stations.

It expects a net loss of 55 billion yen (468 million dollars) in the 12 months to this March.

The company said the restructuring should shorten its manufacturing process and boost productivity.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 through the combination of the hard-disk drive businesses of Hitachi and US giant IBM.