With Thailand having been hit by its worst flooding on record, experts are predicting a huge rise in the cost of hard drives. Some of the world's largest hard drive makers (and suppliers to such PC titans as Apple Inc and Dell Inc) - Western Digital Corp, Seagate Technologies Plc and Toshiba Inc - have experienced major disruption as a result of the floods. Western Digital Corp's chief executive, John Coyne, has warned that revenue for this December could fall sharply as a large number of the company's supply factories are located in the worst-hit areas.
The production of hard disk drives is expected to stall for the next few months while Thailand attempts to regain control after the floods. Thailand is the second-largest producer of hard drives after China and, consequently, it is predicted that this problem will reach much further afield than the Far East. Manufacturers have raised their prices by 20% - 40% to help them cope with the backlash of the floods, sending prices for companies and consumers all over the world soaring. Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple Inc has already stated that he is certain the situation will eventually lead to a industry-wide shortage of hard drives, leading to a knock-on effect for consumers who might want to purchase a computer or laptop of any brand.
During the busy holiday season, laptops and computers, as well as apple memory and PC memory are commonly seen as great gifts, however this quarter could see consumers turning away from purchasing them to give as presents due to their inflated market price. It is hard to predict when the prices will return to normal, as most of the largest suppliers in Thailand have only two months' worth of stock left - once their factories are back up and running it could take many more months for them to deal with the backlog of orders from the time they have been closed.
It is not only the computer giants who will notice the shortage of hard drives - neighborhood computer repair shops in the United States are already struggling to find stock as the last of the inventories are quickly snapped up by bigger suppliers who can afford to pay more and charge more for the products.
Data Memory Systems still has many hard drives in stock. To check availability and order online, visit www.datamemorysystems.com
About Data Memory Systems: The Data Memory Systems' team wants to provide the best possible quality PC memory and Apple memory at the lowest prices. They offer great service and value for your money. Whether you have a Dell, HP, Sony, IBM or Apple Mac system, they have the compatible memory for your device.
