Seagate Expects HDD Production Woes As Flooding Continues In Thailand

Posted 10/13/2011 at 10:21am | by Brad Chacos

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It’s a bad time to be one of the top two hard drive manufacturers in the world right now. Both Seagate and Western Digital maintain large manufacturing facilities in Thailand, which is currently battling extreme flooding that has sent people fleeing from their homes and devastated the nation’s infrastructure. Yesterday, Western Digital halted all production at its Bangkok-area facilities, and today, Seagate said that local supply chain issues caused by the flooding will probably affect its production schedule as well.

“Currently, all Seagate factories in Thailand are operational and there are no logistical issues with employees reaching its factories,” Seagate said in a released statement. “However, the hard disk drive component supply chain is being disrupted and it is expected that certain components in the supply chain will be constrained. Given the volatility of the situation it is unclear what the magnitude of the supply chain disruption will be to Seagate’s hard disk drive output from its Thailand operations.”

Thankfully, the company says none of its employees are among the hundreds that have died in the floods. Production woes at major facilities of the two biggest players in the HDD market could very likely impact pricing and availability for the components in the next quarter, but it is still too early to make a definitive call on the situation. Like Western Digital, Seagate expects to give an update on the situation in its quarterly conference call, scheduled for a week from today.