Author Topic: WD HDD Industry Will Be Supply Constrained Due to Thailand Flooding (Read 8506 times)

kitamesume · « **on:** October 31, 2011, 04:58:08 PM »

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/display/20111020134230_WD_HDD_Industry_Will_Be_Supply_Constrained_Due_to_Thailand_Flooding.html

i dont see it posted yet so might as well post it.

Ultra_Magnus · « **Reply #1 on:** October 31, 2011, 05:32:12 PM »

Glad I bought my hard drives for my server a few weeks ago, they were high then at £80 for 2TB, now they are £120...

krumm · « **Reply #2 on:** October 31, 2011, 06:18:09 PM »

Ya I found out the hard way about the effects of the flooding. I was going to buy some hdd space then seen the price. Now I am stuck deleting stuff. What sucks the most is I knew about the flooding taking out wd factories and was to dense to realize the prices were going to go up and waited.

TorturdChaos · « **Reply #3 on:** October 31, 2011, 06:25:57 PM »

ahh hell. I was just getting ready to buy a new hdd from HTPC / DVR....
Damn WD Blacks have doubled in price

.

krumm · « **Reply #4 on:** October 31, 2011, 08:15:38 PM »

I am thinking about picking up a wd 1tb black(old version 32mb cache) locally for $120 not including tax which is still high but not $200 like amazon and newegg. I really do need the space.

fohfoh · « **Reply #5 on:** November 01, 2011, 03:26:22 AM »

Quote from: krumm on October 31, 2011, 08:15:38 PM

I am thinking about picking up a wd 1tb black(old version 32mb cache) locally for $120 not including tax which is still high but not $200 like amazon and newegg. I really do need the space.

Why not consider a spinpoint for the time being?

Lupin · « **Reply #6 on:** November 01, 2011, 05:45:56 AM »

Local prices for HDD here barely changed. ~~Prices here are closer to the MSRP than online deals though.~~ Scratch that. Prices are a few tens of $ lower than MSRP.

I read this from a thread on HDBits:

Quote

Hitachi
Although Hitachi’s factories are not under water, access to them is very limited. Their main motor supplier is currently not producing any products in Thailand, but Hitachi is hoping to move production to the Philippines. They have limited finished goods, and are currently not shipping anything.

Seagate
Seagate’s factories and suppliers seem to be the least affected; however, their output has been reduced by 25% this quarter, and this is coupled with increased demand due to shortages from other HDD manufacturers. Currently we have no visibility on the availability of some products, but very limited availability on others.

Toshiba
Toshiba’s mobile HDD factory is under water and not producing at the moment, and we do not know when this will improve. Enterprise drives are not significantly affected; however, they are experiencing increased demand due to shortages from other HDD manufacturers.

Western Digital
The Western Digital Thailand factory is still under water and cannot produce drives. Their production estimate is currently at half their output capacity and this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. We have no visibility as to when we will receive any products at this stage.

Images of the flooding can be found here and here

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #7 on:** November 01, 2011, 07:12:40 AM »

Looks like prices at Memory Express (Canada) haven't changed much either, maybe about $10 increases? They have, however, imposed a 2 HDD per customer policy for the time being.

Newegg's prices, on the other hand, have shot up significantly.

Those are some pretty intense images.

krumm · « **Reply #8 on:** November 01, 2011, 02:58:36 PM »

I read earlier that oems should not be affected this year from the shortage, but ASUS is running out of hard drives.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/11/01/1235201/asus-running-out-of-hard-disks

Quote from: fohfoh on November 01, 2011, 03:26:22 AM

Quote from: krumm on October 31, 2011, 08:15:38 PM
I am thinking about picking up a wd 1tb black(old version 32mb cache) locally for $120 not including tax which is still high but not $200 like amazon and newegg. I really do need the space.

Why not consider a spinpoint for the time being?

Can't find them. For some reason local places don't seem to carry them.

dogsinafen · « **Reply #9 on:** November 01, 2011, 03:40:22 PM »

Prices have gone up on ncix and newegg... not impressed...

Guess I'll be waiting a few more months before building my file server... sure as hell not buying 9 drives while they are this high in price.

Sosseres · « **Reply #10 on:** November 01, 2011, 04:32:44 PM »

Quote from: dogsinafen on November 01, 2011, 03:40:22 PM

Prices have gone up on ncix and newegg... not impressed...

Guess I'll be waiting a few more months before building my file server... sure as hell not buying 9 drives while they are this high in price.

It might take more than a few months for prices to go back to the level prior to this. A few large suppliers of parts of hard drives are located in the affected areas. Which means that even if they ramp up production at other places they have no parts to build the hard drives with. Then after everything is up to normal prices will remain high for a while as the retailers get rid of their expensive drives in favour of the cheap ones (the same drives, just at different buy prices for them).

kitamesume · « **Reply #11 on:** November 01, 2011, 07:29:36 PM »

^ unless some ass retailer causes a domino effect by suddenly going to drop his/her price to match the "should be" price.

its a nice plan to pull in customers, specially if you're the only one selling them for a cheap price around the area.

Sosseres · « **Reply #12 on:** November 02, 2011, 03:53:20 PM »

Quote from: kitamesume on November 01, 2011, 07:29:36 PM

^ unless some ass retailer causes a domino effect by suddenly going to drop his/her price to match the "should be" price.

its a nice plan to pull in customers, specially if you're the only one selling them for a cheap price around the area.

There will be some sort of effect of that kind. Since there are different times for different retailers some will be forced to drop their prices to sell at all. The suppliers behind most smaller places will most likely move on to cheaper prices quickly, same with sites like newsegg (sp?) and other large retailers. It will depend on how large the stocks will build up and so on. I don't know enough to get a full picture.

Won't this drive up ssd prices short term where people start opting for them instead? To then bring it down afterwards when they have larger production?

Natheria · « **Reply #13 on:** November 02, 2011, 11:28:49 PM »

Am so glad i bought my new drive a couple months back. Just looked at prices on Newegg and they're disgusting.

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #14 on:** November 03, 2011, 06:36:16 AM »

Likewise. I got six 3TB Hitachis for $120 less $10MIR each. The price is freaking $260 now.

fohfoh · « **Reply #15 on:** November 03, 2011, 07:29:11 AM »

Quote from: Natheria on November 02, 2011, 11:28:49 PM

Am so glad i bought my new drive a couple months back. Just looked at prices on Newegg and they're disgusting.

Ah... good ole capitalism. Or is it economics? Both?

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #16 on:** November 03, 2011, 07:44:12 AM »

I'd say mostly economics, but that's because capitalism is so ingrained in economics...

But it's basic supply and demand. Demand doesn't change, but supply suddenly drops, so the price has to increase to reach the balance... Equilibrium, I think the term was.

k0d0chaa · « **Reply #17 on:** November 03, 2011, 11:36:23 AM »

Quote from: Freedom Kira on November 03, 2011, 06:36:16 AM

Likewise. I got six 3TB Hitachis for $120 less $10MIR each. The price is freaking $260 now.

i got the same thing (130$ no tax/shipping), came in the mail a few days ago. i regret not buying more than one. the price however only went up 40$ and the WD 3TB that i almost bought only went up 60$. i wonder if i should get another before they get higher, or are the prices on it's way down already. doubt that

i find this to be a good opportunity to sell my 1TB externals that i've been meaning to get rid of (holy crap! im evil too $:-\$ )

Ultra_Magnus · « **Reply #18 on:** November 03, 2011, 06:26:53 PM »

Quote from: fohfoh on November 03, 2011, 07:29:11 AM

Quote from: Natheria on November 02, 2011, 11:28:49 PM
Am so glad i bought my new drive a couple months back. Just looked at prices on Newegg and they're disgusting.

Ah... good ole capitalism. Or is it economics? Both?

Isn't economics just the mathematical notation of capitalism?

Sosseres · « **Reply #19 on:** November 03, 2011, 06:33:44 PM »

Quote from: Ultra_Magnus on November 03, 2011, 06:26:53 PM

Quote from: fohfoh on November 03, 2011, 07:29:11 AM
Quote from: Natheria on November 02, 2011, 11:28:49 PM
Am so glad i bought my new drive a couple months back. Just looked at prices on Newegg and they're disgusting.

Ah... good ole capitalism. Or is it economics? Both?
Isn't economics just the mathematical notation of capitalism?

Economics can be applied to other systems besides capitalism. There are few places that has pure capitalism.