Hard drive disk (HDD) industry is not likely to recover very soon after floods inundated several major manufacturing bases in Thailand where about one-fourth of the world's HDDs were made, John Coyne, CEO of the leading HDD maker West Digital, said Monday.
Production of West Digital and all its competitors have dropped significantly after floods inundated plants in Thailand and cut the supply chains, driving prices to a much higher level, Coyne told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
The production of West Digital for the last quarter is forecast to drop by about 60 percent, he said. The company's plants in both Ayutthaya Province's Bang Pa-in Industrial Park and Pathun Thani Province's Navanakorn Industrial Park were flooded in October.
The retail price of a 1-TB HDD in Thai capital Bangkok has rocketed from 2,000 Baht (64.5 U.S. dollars) a piece prior to the flood to 6,000 Baht.
He said the company was assessing the level of damage from the floods. He was not sure of the exact amount of losses and when the production can resume, but "it will take at least several quarters for full recovery."
West Digital's main focus is to bring manufacturing facilities back to function. The company is paying its 38,000 workforce in Thailand, although most of them are off work, Coyne said, adding the company donated 10 million Baht to the Thai Red Cross Society for flood victims.
Coyne said he discussed with Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong the reconstruction of West Digital's facilities and the infrastructure building of the industrial parks to prevent future disasters.
"We need to ensure that: first, our facilities can be rebuilt as soon as possible, and secondly, we can continue to operate and develop in Thailand in the future," he said.
The worst flood in almost 70 years in Thailand have shut down more than 14,000 factories and forced at least 660,000 people out of work.
Floods have dragged the GDP growth for 2011 to 1.5 percent from the previous projection of 3.5 percent to 4 percent, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board announced Monday.
Almost all industries in Thailand have shrinking sales and production.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
English.news.cn 2011-11-21 23:32:12 FeedbackPrintRSS
BANGKOK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua)
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