The industry will fall short of 100 million units needed to fill the supply gap.
Market leader Seagate says that the worst part of the HDD crisis, caused by the extensive floods in Thailand, is still ahead of us, reports PC Pro. The supply problems will persist until at least the end of 2012.
Seagate’s CEO Steve Luczo has told AllThingsD that before the flood hit, Seagate expected demand next year to be about 180 million units a quarter, “with a bump in September 2012 for Windows 8″. The company now believes the entire industry will only be able to churn out 120 million HDDs in the next quarter.
Over the course of the entire next year, about 100 mln scheduled units will not be manufactured. This shortage will persist, as the companies wouldn’t want to fill this – albeit heavy – temporary void. Inventory is already starting to run out, so the situation is going to get from bad to worse in the coming months.
