14 DAY TRIAL // The impending HDD shortage has already caused some disruption worldwide, but Nidec is back online, which means that motors, at least, won't be too big a problem anymore.
If people don't know of Nidec very well, it's because, instead of being an HDD supplier or inventor, it makes HDD parts, which means that it doesn't really hit the news much.
Right now, it is proving to be a very important pillar of the HDD industry indeed, especially as it is actually restarting its factories in Thailand.
Nidec, simply put, manufactures hard disk drive (HDD) motors.
This doesn't look like it would mean much, until it is pointed out that almost 75% of all hard disks sold worldwide use them.
It is, thus, very understandable that such great concerns amounted so soon after the Thailand floods overcame its factories.
Certainly, Western Digital also closed off its facilities, which account for about 60% of its worldwide production capacity, but Nidec's woes affected more or less every HDD maker out there.
Seagate is one example of a company which, though it didn't have problems at its own facilities, its supply was, nonetheless, disrupted by constrained component supply.
To offer context, Nidec has 10 plants in Thailand, eight of which were caught in the flood zone.
The company increased production capacities at its China and Philippine factories and, now, the Ayutthaya (Thailand) plants as well.
More precisely, work resumed on October 4, not too long after the Rangsit plants restarted on October 25 (2011).
Since waters are receding, there should be more updates, soon, from the other affected corporations.
Western Digital should get its own HDD production sites in order at some point, though it isn't known when.
Ironically, Seagate will probably see its market share rise somewhat, being largely unaffected, directly, by the natural disaster.