Floods drown hi-tech plants (40% Intl. hard drives)

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/MK05Dj01.html


Thailand - Devastating flooding in Thailand, the world's number two exporter of hard disk drives (HDD) after China, will have a major impact on production which is likely to affect the netbook and PC industries and drive up prices globally.

Overall market shortage will reach up to 28% in the next six months, due to flooded factories in Thailand, industry research firms iSupply and IDC predict. The country provides 40% of the international hard drive supply.

Western Digital, the largest producer of hard drives, is expected to be hit the hardest, with up to 75% of its production shut down. Seagate, which also has factories in Thailand, has said these are still operational but will see a significant drop in production due to difficulties in obtaining parts. Toshiba has reported that water is 2 meters deep in its storage device plant and 3 meters deep in its semi-conductor factory in Thailand.

Hard disk manufacturers have already increased their prices by up to 50% in some instances, and local vendors are seeing supplies run dry as lingering inventories are quickly snapped up. IDC research analysts commented "We generally believe the HDD industry will find way to return to pre-flood production levels by March, but by that point HDD supplies will be at extremely low levels. It's still going to be a pretty painful period from December through February for most HDD customers."
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[William Seger]

1. Read about this yesterday

... when I was wondering why a 2TB drive I had been planning on buying went from $90 last week to $180 now. I got one on eBay at a reasonable price, but higher prices will surely show up there soon, too. Anyone thinking of computers for Christmas presents, I'd suggest buying now.