Thailand boosts HDD production with 23.5 billion baht investment

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) approved a significant investment project by Western Digital Storage Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd., to expand its hard disk drive (HDD) and related equipment production. The project, valued at 23.516 billion baht, will take place in Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province and 304 Industrial Park, Prachin Buri province.

The Secretary-General of the BOI, Naruecha Terdsathirasak, stated that this expansion is expected to boost Thailand’s export value by more than 200 billion baht annually. Additionally, it will create over 10,000 new jobs for Thai personnel and benefit-related businesses.

The project plans to utilise locally sourced materials such as printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA), metal and plastic parts, and power supply units, amounting to over 81 billion baht per year, which is approximately 45% of the total raw material value, said Naruecha.

“The global HDD industry continues to grow steadily to support the expansion of cloud systems and data centres, as well as modern technologies like Generative AI and 5G. These advancements will drive the demand for more efficient data storage and processing systems.”

Thailand remains a key production base for the global HDD industry. Currently, 80% of the world’s HDDs are manufactured in Thailand, primarily by major producers such as Western Digital (WD) and Seagate. Just last year, Seagate also announced a considerable investment of over 16 billion baht to expand its operations.

Over the past ten years, from 2015 to June this year, there have been 42 investment promotion applications in the HDD and components industry, with a total investment value exceeding 82.6 billion baht. This trend reflects the ongoing confidence in Thailand as a leading hub for HDD production and related technological advancements.

The continuous growth in the HDD sector is driven by the increasing reliance on advanced technologies and cloud computing systems. As businesses worldwide adopt Generative AI and 5G, the need for efficient and high-capacity data storage solutions has surged.

Thailand’s strategic position in the global market allows it to leverage this demand, providing robust support for technological progress, reported Khaosod.