Western Digital Hit Hard, HDD Shipments Fall 42%

Today is shaping up to be the day when the consequences of the floods in Thailand (in the IT field) become obvious, as even Western Digital has been forced to report abysmal shipment results.

Following in the footsteps of Advanced Micro Devices and NVIDIA, Western Digital has handed out some financial details of its own.

Unfortunately, while the other two didn't precisely have overly fortuitous things to share either, Western Digital has, by far, the least encouraging news.

AMD incurred quite a few losses because of restructuring and issues with Globalfoundries, but it still did more or less well.

NVIDIA did not publish financial findings, but it expects less than it did back in October, 2011.

That said, Western Digital is now showing just how serious the Thai floods were.

Having been the most severely hit by the waters, it had its drive supply and, thus, shipping capability seriously crippled.

Basically, WD shipped 42% fewer drives in the second fiscal quarter, the one which ended on Dec. 30, 2011.

Overall, sales figures weren't as low, since higher unit prices at least mitigated the much lower shipment volumes (sales dropped 19%). Also, WD remained profitable.

Nevertheless, this goes to show just how badly off the HDD market is at the moment.

“We have made substantial progress in restoring WD's manufacturing capabilities in the aftermath of the historic flooding in Thailand, and this is reflected in our second quarter financial results and in the resumption of our operations there,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer of WD.

“While much work remains to be done over the next several quarters to reach our pre-flood manufacturing capabilities, the progress thus far is significantly ahead of our original expectations and is a tribute to the dedicated and effective actions of our employees, contractors and Thai government agencies, the efforts of our supply partners and the support of our customers. We are grateful to all involved in this extraordinary effort.”