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The Canon factory north of Bangkok is just one of hundreds of manufacturing facilities impacted by the floods in Thailand.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Just when the electronics industry had finally recovered from
Japan's massive earthquake earlier this year, devastating flooding in Thailand has once again stymied production of several key consumer electronics components.
Thailand serves as an electronics manufacturing hub for hundreds of companies, particularly for those based in Japan. Suffering its
worst flooding in decades, Thai production of hard drives, cameras and microchips has come to a standstill.
The disruption is sending shockwaves through the industry, and it is expected to impact the availability of other devices like laptops and set-top boxes.
Irvine, Calif.-based Western Digital (
WDC,
Fortune 500), the global hard drive leader, is expected to be among the hardest hit companies operating in the region. The company has two of its main manufacturing facilities in Thailand, and flood waters entered both facilities, submerging much of the company's equipment in one location. Production at both facilities has been suspended since Oct. 12.
With greater exposure to the flooded areas than its competition, Western Digital will likely lose its top spot in the hard drive market this quarter. It will probably get bumped down as far as third place, according to an IHS iSuppli forecast released Monday.
"This is a disaster of unprecedented scale," John Coyne, Western Digital's CEO said on a conference call with analysts two weeks ago. "The flooding in Thailand presents us with a series of daunting challenges during the next several quarters."
Shares of Western Digital have fallen 9% since it suspended production in Thailand, and the company said it may not be able to meet customer demand for its products this quarter -- even as overall hard drive demand is expected to flat-line.
The hard drives that are made by Western Digital, Toshiba, and other smaller players in the areas impacted by the flooding are mainly designed for notebook and netbook personal computers. Since PC sales have slumped this year, laptop vendors have ample supply of hard drives that can last through the quarter.
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