Supply Chains & Mother Nature: When Thai Floods Hit HDDs

Despite 2011's catastrophic Thailand floods, HDD makers never decentralized, since insurance and a declining market discouraged relocating fixed capacity.

• Thailand's HDD hub: Government tax breaks and cheap floodplain land near Bangkok drew Seagate and Western Digital to build massive assembly estates after Singapore/Malaysia's earlier eras.
• 2011 disaster hit unevenly: A La Niña-driven 'hundred-year flood' with two tropical storms overwhelmed flood walls, hitting Western Digital hard while Seagate's northern Thailand sites escaped.

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