Aaron Lee, Taipei; Steve Shen

 

Major hard disk drive (HDD) vendors reportedly have asked branded PC vendors to sign one-year buying contracts for HDDs at specified prices and volumes as the supply of HDDs has remained tight after the Thailand floods, according to industry sources.

Although HDD vendors as well as makers in the HDD component supply chain have resumed operations recently, the pace of the recovery varies from factory to factory, indicated the sources, adding that it is difficult to say that the worst-case supply scenario is over.

Some PC vendors indicated that they have been buying HDDs on a quarterly basis previously, and are reluctant to sign long-term supply contracts, fearing that HDD prices may drop sharply once the supply chain recovers fully from the impact of the floods.

However, some HDD vendors expect global HDD output to decline 30% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2011 with the shortfall to continue in the first quarter of 2012.

Shipments of HDDs are expected to reach only 140 million units in the first quarter of 2012 compared to a quarterly shipment of 170-180 million units in previous years, estimated the vendors.