Thai Flooding Shutters HDD Plants

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 10/13/2011

Irvine, Calif. - Seagate has joined Western Digital in shutting down its hard disk factories in flood-ravaged Thailand.

Seagate said today that while its facilities are not directly impacted by the flooding and its employees can get to work, the supply chain has been disrupted within that country, halting production.

Seagate said the plants affected are in Teparuk and Korat. The former makes head stack and head gimbal assemblies, while Korat produces sliders, head assemblies, head gimbal assemblies and final hard-drive production.

Western Digital announced on Oct. 12 it had shut down production at its Thailand factories due to flooding problems in the region dramatically reducing its hard-disk-drive production capability.

The affected Westen Digital factories, located near Bangkok, produced about 32 million hard drives in the quarter ending July 1, Western Digital said. In addition, many of the hard-drive components are sourced from local suppliers which are also impacted by the flooding conditions. The company also has factories located in nearby Malaysia.

Like Seagate, Western Digital said the plants are still operational, but all work has been suspended to protect its 37,000 area employees and equipment from the rising water. Western Digital is still assessing the situation as the situation remains highly volatile and the final impact on production cannot be determined at this time.

Western Digital will make further announcements during its Oct. 19 investment conference call. Seagate said it would do the same during its Oct. 20 call.

The flooding, due to seasonal storms, is the worst in 50 years to hit the country and has killed about 280 people in the country, according to a story in BusinessWeek.