• Home /
• BCM News and Events /
• BCM news /
• Floods in Thailand 'to disrupt global IT supply chains'

Floods in Thailand 'to disrupt global IT supply chains'

25 October 2011

Devastating floods that have hit Thailand could affect the global supply of hard drives for months into the future, according to analysts.

Manufacturing supply chains have been disrupted by the deluges, as around one-quarter of production of the technology takes place in the country.

At least 366 people have died in seasonal monsoon rains and flooding since July and hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged, leaving many people homeless and out of work.

Western Digital factory has seen some of its factories hit by flood water, which will affect its revenues over the period through to March 2012 "and beyond".

Tim Leyden, Chief Operating Officer of the company, said: "We are thankful that all our employees are safe and we moved much of the equipment which had been situated on the ground floors to higher floors."

The firm has been coping with the effect on its members of staff, their families and on its suppliers of the torrents and the region's business infrastructure, John Coyne, President and Chief Executive of Western Digital, said.

He added that more than nine million people have been affected by the disaster and 14,000 factories flooded, so that "full recovery will be a multi-quarter challenge".

With many components made within areas affected by the flooding, production elsewhere of PCs and servers may well undergo disruption and prices could be forced up as a result of shortages.

The disaster is continuing to affect Thailand, with a warning issued by the Government for those alongside the Chao Phraya River to prepare for a possible evacuation as the capital Bangkok is under threat.

Barriers are now being shored up and strengthened in a bid to safeguard the city, as waters rush towards it.

Transport links across the nation have been affected by the flooding and it is estimated that reconstruction efforts will cost many billions of baht.