Thailand floods disrupt hard disk production

Sustained monsoon rain has led to unusually heavy flooding in Thailand; a situation which is likely to have a major impact on the worldwide supply of hard disks.

The country, which is the world’s second largest hard disk exporter, plays home to many manufacturing plants belonging to the world’s biggest storage companies.

Hitachi, Toshiba, TDK, hard disk motor maker Nidec and PCBA maker Cal-Comp all have facilities in the country. While not all these companies have had their facilities flooded, many have been cut off or had supply lines disrupted.

Western Digital also has facilities in the country, and has already released a statement saying that it expects the flooding to ‘have significant impact on the company’s overall operations and its ability to meet customer demand for its products in the December quarter.'

Similarly, Seagate also expects its Thailand-based factories to operate at a reduced capacity due to disruption in the hard disk supply chain. This, it suggests, is likely to lead to hard drive supply being constrained throughout the current quarter.' With a supply shortage seemingly inevitable, it's also highly likely that the price of hard disks will increase.

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