The devastating floods in Thailand will cause a 28 percent quarter-on-quarter drop in hard disk drive (HDD) production in the fourth quarter, potentially affecting notebook production in early 2012, research firm IHS iSuppli said on Monday.
Western Digital could also lose its position as the largest shipper of the drives, the research firm said.
Toshiba and Western Digital
have announced so far the temporary shut down of their factories in the country, while Seagate Technology said the supply of components to its factories in Thailand was disrupted.
In an update last week, Toshiba said that water is two meters high on the site and the surrounding area, and more than one meter deep in the buildings at its hard disk facility at Navanakorn Industrial Estate Zone, Pathumtani, which was damaged. The company started alternative production at other factories, but said "the production volume will be limited by available capacity".
HDD shipments in the fourth quarter will decline to 125 million units, down 27.7 percent from 173 million in the third quarter, resulting in a significant shortage of HDDs, and an increase in price of about 10 percent compared to third quarter prices, iSuppli said.
Thailand is the world's second-largest producer of HDDs after China and is a major supplier of hard drive parts. Located in the country are key component makers like Nidec which according to iSuppli supplies more than 70 percent of all global HDD motors, and is a supplier to major HDD manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Toshiba and Samsung.
