Dell cuts 60 Malaysian staff

Its manager of corporate communications (Asia Pacific) Harjit Kaur revealed this when contacted on Monday.

"The decision was taken last month and we have offered a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) to the affected people," she said adding there were no further plans to cut staff in its Penang operations.

The second APCC plant is Dell's biggest manufacturing center exporting a wide range of desktops and laptops throughout Asia and to the United States. The plant began operations early this year.

Dell Computer had announced earlier this year that it would cut 3,000 to 4,000 jobs during the next two quarters due to sluggish global demand.

The cuts, which the company said will primarily affect employees in Texas, were widely anticipated as PC sales have decimated the bottom lines of most computer manufacturers.

In May, Dell's chief Michael Dell during a stopover in Kuala Lumpur, had claimed that there would be no shedding of the company's local workforce.

In February, Dell had eliminated about 1,700 jobs.