Western Digital CEO: hard disk industry hard to recover in the short term

According to an interview with Xinhua News Agency on the 21st, John Kein, chief executive officer of world-renowned hard drive manufacturer Western Digital, said that due to the flooding in Thailand, the output of global hard drive manufacturers has generally declined and it is difficult to recover in the short term.

Koin said that floods in Thailand flooded factories and caused supply chain ruptures. Western Digital and its competitors' production capacity has dropped drastically, and hard drive prices have been forced to rise. He said that the current capacity of the Western Digital is only 40% before the flood. The current production facilities are still affected by the flood and cannot be resumed. At least several quarters of the production capacity have been restored, and the company’s 38,000 employees in Thailand are still paid at home.

Western Digital is headquartered in California, USA, and its production base in Thailand is located in Bangbain Industrial Park in Ayutthaya and Nawanakang Industrial Park in Pathumthani. In October, the two industrial parks were flooded successively.

Kein said that on the 21st, he discussed with the Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jitrix Nathuan, will strengthen the infrastructure construction of industrial parks, prevent natural disasters, rebuild factories and resume production as soon as possible.

He said that the company is assessing the loss, and it is not yet known how much the specific loss will occur and when it will be able to resume production, but the company will certainly rebuild its facilities and continue to produce in Thailand.

Under the influence of floods, about 14,000 factories in Thailand have ceased production and more than 660,000 workers have been suspended or unemployed. At present, about a quarter of the world’s hard drives are produced in Thailand.