Thailand spins up approval for Western Digital to make more spinning rust

Kingdom sees growing demand for hard disks and drives to maintain global dominance

The Kingdom of Thailand yesterday approved Western Digital's plans to expand its hard disk manufacturing facilities in the nation.

An announcement from the Thai Board of Investment (BOI) revealed that Western Digital's ฿23 billion ($675 million) plan to expand its facilities in the provinces of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and Prachin Buri has got the go-ahead.

Western Digital hasn't made any announcement or filing about the decision, so we don't know if its plans go beyond its current activities in Thailand – which include the drive manufacturer’s only final assembly and testing facilities.

The BOI, however, wrote that its approval is driven by growth of hyperscale clouds and other datacenters, which is creating fresh demand for hard disk drives. Generative AI is also spurring demand, of course. It's also causing prices to rise.

The Board estimated that WD's expansion will create 10,000 jobs – to go with the 28,000 paid for by its current activities – and boost the local tech supply chain by creating work for outfits that make inputs such as plastics, metals, printed circuit boards, and power supplies.

The Register recently discussed the HDD market with WD's rival Seagate, which told us hyperscalers are now its most significant customers. They persist with hard disks as a tier of storage used to handle bulk data, while more expensive and faster solid state technologies get the job of handling info that can't wait to get moving.

Seagate, for what it's worth, also makes its product in Thailand – last year it sank another ฿16 billion ($470 million) into its facilities there.

The Board wrote that between Seagate and WD, Thailand accounts for 80 percent of the world's hard disks. ®