Saturday, December 10th 2011

HDD Shortage To Go On And On And On

The recent Thailand floods appear to be taking a bigger toll than expected, with the effects of the shortages to be felt all the way into 2013, according to market research firm IDC. This isn't helped by the fact that the largest manufacturer of HDDs, Western Digital, was hit the hardest. As the situation is so volatile, companies such as HP, Dell & Lenovo are keeping watch on the market daily and are even sometimes having to accept drives of a lower spec if they are to ship some systems at all. As expected, the retail purchaser of hard disk drives comes bottom of the allocation list. IDCs John Rydning said in a statement: "I think the most painful period will occur now through February of next year. We expect the situation will improve, but it won't feel as if things are back to normal until 2013". There's more detail and analysis over at Network World.
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32 Comments on HDD Shortage To Go On And On And On

#26
qwerty_lesh
newtekie1Yeah, in the US, most e-tailers pretty much doubled their prices the day the news hit that there were floods in Thailand and there would be a shortage. I know Newegg had thousands of drives on hand, their supplies shouldn't have been affected as quickly as the prices went up.

I'm sure everyone is upping their cut and the effect snowballs. But the main point I was trying to make was that the actual manufacturers aren't totally to blame for the price hike, everyone is taking advantage.
ah yeah, its definitely happens, and even brick and mortar shops have probably done it too, especially dodgy ones, but not all do it thats for sure, but all do suffer the hike the distributors impose once they run out of stock, so the honest ones sell out super fast.

I work for two computer companies in melbourne australia and both are the kind of business where they will continue to sell off their surplus stock and the proper, honest, price.

can't speak for all b&m shops or online shops thats for sure.
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#27
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
newtekie1Didn't the biggest manufacturer of parts of hard drives based in Thialand just report that 9 out of 10 of their factories were back up and running last week?

I think WD is just bullshitting at this point to try and keep prices higher.
even if they were operating at 100% power right now, that would still mean weeks or months to make up for the backlog of missed drives.
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#28
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
Musselseven if they were operating at 100% power right now, that would still mean weeks or months to make up for the backlog of missed drives.
Yes, but not years like they are trying to say. I expect prices will continue to be high for a few more months, obviously I'm not expecting price to bottom back out tomorrow. However, I don't expect the shortage to last anywhere near 2013. Maybe March before we start see prices return to pretty normal prices, but not 2013.
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#29
cheesy999
newtekie1Yes, but not years like they are trying to say. I expect prices will continue to be high for a few more months, obviously I'm not expecting price to bottom back out tomorrow. However, I don't expect the shortage to last anywhere near 2013. Maybe March before we start see prices return to pretty normal prices, but not 2013.
prices won't stay at this rate till 2013 because if they do SSD's will probably reach a similar price/GB by then at the rate they are dropping in price
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#30
twicksisted
well now that their drives are more than double the price, and the factorys are back up and running, and peoiple are still buying them.... why go back to the low prices we were used to?
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#31
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
twicksistedwell now that their drives are more than double the price, and the factorys are back up and running, and peoiple are still buying them.... why go back to the low prices we were used to?
Competition eventually drives down the price to the marginal cost of making them - ie a small profit margin - so they won't stay up here forever. However, with such demand, it will take much longer for this to happen.

But then if the HD manufacturers go into cartel mode, the prices are gonna get stuck up here. :rolleyes: It might be illegal, but it does look like the punishments and fines if and when they come won't be enough to make them lose overall, so they're not much of a deterrent.
Posted on Reply
#32
Ferrum Master
This should be investigated as price fixing act between companies... there only two of them left thou...

Damn these illuminati :D
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