Seagate Estimates Hard Drive Production Won’t Return to Pre-Flood Levels for Another Year

Posted 11/20/2011 at 3:53pm | by Justin Kerr

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We hate to be constantly beating the doomsday drum on the hard drive crisis in Thailand, but Seagate isn’t making any easier to give this a positive spin. According to Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Luczo, Wall Street is talking nonsense if they think drive production will reach pre-flood as estimated in the summer of 2012. Instead Luczo estimates it will take a full 12 months to bring everything back online, and he expects it to be a difficult road ahead for the entire industry since more than 130 of its suppliers are still under three feet of water.  

"It’s going to be very interesting to see who gets drives and who doesn’t," Luczo said, adding that customers are stockpiling large capacity drives in anticipation of shortages, even despite the higher prices. "Some have offered $250 million upfront," he told Bloomberg. Looking 12 months ahead Luczo has also confirmed we are unlikely to see pre-flood pricing for even longer. "People are going to appreciate the complexity of this business," he said.