What comes first to your mind when you think of Thailand? The food, the exotic architecture, or more recently (though blink and you'd miss the reports) the floods that are devastating the country? Bet you didn't think of Thailand as a major manufacturer, especially of hard drives (which they are, or rather were).
It seems that ALL of the major HD manufacturers (Hitachi, Samsung, Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba) either have plant in Thailand, or are dependent on Thai suppliers.
As one headline put it, 'Brace yourself..for the coming HD shortage'.
My first notification came from another direction - with a call from my opticians to say that Hoya couldn't supply a particular lens for several weeks. I've been looking around the usual HD suppliers, and there are already price rises and 'sold out' labels across the board.
It's probably too late already to avoid problems, if you need large numbers - otherwise there's always SSD to consider.
It seems that ALL of the major HD manufacturers (Hitachi, Samsung, Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba) either have plant in Thailand, or are dependent on Thai suppliers.
As one headline put it, 'Brace yourself..for the coming HD shortage'.
My first notification came from another direction - with a call from my opticians to say that Hoya couldn't supply a particular lens for several weeks. I've been looking around the usual HD suppliers, and there are already price rises and 'sold out' labels across the board.
It's probably too late already to avoid problems, if you need large numbers - otherwise there's always SSD to consider.