Dell to keep Winston-Salem factory open through April

Dell plans to keep its Winston-Salem plant open until April to handle rebounding demand for desktop computers.

The company announced in October that it would close the factory next month and lay off about 900 employees. About half of those workers were let go in November.

But Dell is "continuing to see signs of demand improvement" and needs the factory to stay open about three months longer than expected to supplement manufacturing being done at other facilities, said spokesman Venancio Figueroa.

The company will offer the plant's remaining 400 workers retention bonuses to keep them on the job through April, he added. The amount will vary by position.

Figueroa declined to comment on whether the factory might stay open even longer, if demand continues to increase. "I'm not going to speculate beyond April."