Western Digital Wrings Out $2 Billion in Revenue Following Thailand Floods

Posted 01/24/2012 at 7:46am | by Paul Lilly

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Western Digital's hard drive operations in Thailand spent part of the company's second fiscal quarter ended December 30, 2011 waterlogged after severe flooding ravaged the area, but if it was time to sink or swim, WD chose the latter. Remarkably, the hard drive maker still managed to ship 28.5 million HDD units during its second fiscal quarter, pulling in $2 billion in revenue and profiting $145 million.

Those numbers are down from one year prior when WD reported revenue of $2.5 billion, net income of $225 million, and 52.2 million HDD shipments, but the fact the hard drive maker was able to flip a profit is fairly amazing, considering the circumstances.

"We have made substantial progress in restoring WD's manufacturing capabilities in the aftermath of the historic flooding in Thailand, and this is reflected in our second quarter financial results and in the resumption of our operations there," said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer. "While much work remains to be done over the next several quarters to reach our pre-flood manufacturing capabilities, the progress thus far is significantly ahead of our original expectations and is a tribute to the dedicated and effective actions of our employees, contractors and Thai government agencies, the efforts of our supply partners and the support of our customers. We are grateful to all involved in this extraordinary effort."

Western Digital also announced it plans to close its acquisition of Hitachi by march 2012 as it continues to work on obtaining regulatory approval.