hard drives from Thailand?

[Joe]

At Best Buy- I just saw a sign posted over their hard drive selection-
saying there is a crimp in the supply due to the flooding in Thailand. I'm
surprised that one country is that important for the production of drives.
Or is Best Buy wrong?

Joe

 

[cjt]

Most HDDs are from there. My 1 TB Seagate, from Thanksgiving 2011
weekend, was from there. Yeah, it is dumb/stupid to put everything in
one place/basket. Hopefully, these companies learned their lessons.

They're learning that by restricting supply they can double or triple
prices. That's the "beauty" of oligarchies.

 

[Joe Kotroczo]

At Best Buy- I just saw a sign posted over their hard drive selection-
saying there is a crimp in the supply due to the flooding in Thailand. I'm
surprised that one country is that important for the production of drives.
Or is Best Buy wrong?

<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/business/global/07iht-floods07.html?pagewanted=all>

 

[Rod Speed]

At Best Buy- I just saw a sign posted over their hard drive selection-saying there is a crimp in the supply due to the
flooding in Thailand. I'm surprised that one country is that important for the production of drives.

You shouldnt be, they make a significant percentage of the drives.

Or is Best Buy wrong?

Nope.

 

[Rod Speed]

Ant wrote

Joe wrote

Most HDDs are from there. My 1 TB Seagate, from Thanksgiving 2011
weekend, was from there. Yeah, it is dumb/stupid to put everything in
one place/basket. Hopefully, these companies learned their lessons.

Bet they havent. We previously saw a significant
percentage of stuff made in earthquake prone Japan.

 

[Arno]

They're learning that by restricting supply they can double or triple
prices. That's the "beauty" of oligarchies.

Quite possibly, yes. Not good.

Arno

 

[Krypsis]

At Best Buy- I just saw a sign posted over their hard drive selection-
saying there is a crimp in the supply due to the flooding in Thailand.
I'm surprised that one country is that important for the production of
drives. Or is Best Buy wrong?

Joe

Thailand provides a better quality product than China, Indonesia,
Vietnam and a few other countries in the region. Singapore used to be
big on hard drive manufacturing 20 odd years back but I doubt it is in
the same league nowadays. Quality was lousy from Singapore back then anyway.