The recent floods in Thailand has taken hundreds of lives and has managed to cost billions of dollars in damage, but it seems that’s not the only toll. Forbes has reported that many tech factories have been affected, including facilities that create HDDs. According to the report, almost every HDD brand has manufacturing facilities in Thailand, a list that includes Western Digital, Seagate Technology and Hitachi Global Storage Technology. Companies who create components to make HDD have also been hit with companies like Hutchinson Technology (HTCH) (suppliers of HDD suspensions for Western Digital) suspending operations.
This means that manufacturers who create devices that have HDDs as essential components of their devices may face higher HDD prices, or worse, a shortage of HDDs if production is not returned to its normal levels. Forbes say that many observers believe that the impact of Thailand flooding on the hard disk drive supply chain may be worse than the disruption caused by the Japanese earthquakes earlier this year.
Source: Forbes