Laptop Shortage to Hit Worldwide Due to Thailand Floods
A laptop shortage is expected after the recent severe flooding in Thailand. The electronics industry in Thailand has been hit hard by the flood, forcing hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturers to close down. This will mean that there will be a shortage of disk drives, driving the cost up and having a knock on affect on the price of laptops.
One PC manufacturer, Acer, is planning to raise its price on laptops following the flood. According to Western Digital (WD), 40 percent of the world’s hard disk drives are made in Thailand.
WD was forced to close two of its main factories in Thailand but rival manufacturer Seagate’s factories were spared from the flood.
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“This is a disaster of unprecedented scale,” John Coyne, Western Digital's CEO said on a conference call with analysts two weeks ago, according to CNN. “The flooding in Thailand presents us with a series of daunting challenges during the next several quarters.”
Shares of WD have fallen 9 percent since its suspended production in Thailand.
Financial Times reported that HDD prices have gone up 20 percent since the floods. Analysts predict that the HDD supply problems will not resolve until the fourth quarter of 2012.
Acer Chairman J.T. Wang said last week that this is a “bottleneck” in the whole PC production chain and that his company will raise the prices of its laptops in mid-November.
Hundreds of companies rely on Thailand to manufacture electronics such hard drives, cameras and microchips. The disruption from the flood is having a ripple effect throughout the whole electronics industry.
Automobile makers Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and others have also suspected production in Thailand due to the flood.
