Chinese Floods Wash Away the Affordability of Hard Disk Drives

The most recent floods in the Asian countries, namely China and Thailand, have had an impact on the global computer hardware industry. These two countries, especially China, have a large number of hard disk manufacturing units, which are now shut due to excessive flooding. The shortage in the supply of hard disk drives has already led to a 20 percent increase in the costs of the ones that are already in the market. With the floods not likely to recede anytime soon, the prices will continue to soar higher.

Most of the leading HDD brands have their manufacturing units in China. The most affected of the lot will be Western Digital, which currently tops the list of highest hard disk manufacturers in the world. Over 75 percent of their production has taken a hit due to the closure of their main units. Seagate is another company that has taken a big hit as a result of this crisis. The silver lining for Seagate comes in the form of two units that are still in the operational state, though the production might be significantly slower. Japanese major Toshiba also has reported water up to two feet in its storage units in China and also its Thailand based semi-conductor production unit.

The shortage in the supply of the most critical part in computer assembly has fueled most of the hard disk manufacturers around the world to up the prices of these computer accessories, irrespective of their presence in the flood-hit countries. Though all countries around the world are going to face the impact of the price hikes, the United Kingdom is the most affected because of the shortage in the number of local vendors who can make up for the shortage.

Expressing optimism in the face of adversity, computer researchers have forecast that most of the brands that are taking a hit now will surely bounce back to pre-flood production in just a short span of time after the flood levels recede. Considering the ability of the Chinese to work hard to make up for lost time, this prediction of the researchers may prove to be reality.

It will take at least until March 2012 for the production of hard disks to stabilize. The four-month period from November to March next year will surely be painful for computer manufacturers and customers alike. This holiday season may see a decrease in the sales of computers, unlike the years in the past, because of increased computer prices.