Thailand floods raising possibility of global HDD shortage

Western Digital said its primary manufacturing facility in Thailand was flooded over the weekend, with its secondary site also at risk, raising the possibility of a global shortage of hard disk drives (HDD) in the current quarter.

The company said Monday that it has decided to extend the suspension of its operations in the country announced last week.

Flooding has killed over 290 people in Thailand since July, according to reports.

Seagate Technology, another disk drive maker with operations in Thailand, said last week that disruption in the supply of components could lead to constrained supply of drives in the fourth quarter, although its factories in the country were in operation. An update on the situation is expected from the company on Thursday. Read more...