Western Digital closes one of its mechanical hard drive plants in Thailand

Due to the failure of mechanical hard drives, Western Digital has closed one of its manufacturing facilities in Thailand.

The sale of mechanical hard drives is falling significantly due to the increased capacity of solid state hard drives, also known as SSDs. Western Digital, due to the decline in sales of mechanical hard drives, has announced that it will close the Petaling Jaya factory, located near Kuala Lumpur, due to the drop in demand for these hard drives.

Western Digital has closed one of its mechanical hard drive plants.

Wells Fargo senior analyst Aaron Rakers has said that the closure of the Petalling Jaya factory reduces the number of the company's plants for manufacturing mechanical hard drives to two, both located in Thailand. Additionally, the company has two hard drive substrate factories, located in Johor and Kuching, located in Malaysia, where it also has solid state drive assembly and testing facilities, media manufacturing lines, and I + D, located in Penang.

Due to the joint venture it has with Toshiba, the company has a large SSD manufacturing line, which allows it to sell units that the market clearly demands instead of conventional HDDs. WD has highlighted that it will offer workers affected by the closure, assistance, their corresponding severance pay and support to improve their skills.

Western Digital, on the other hand, will maintain its Center of Excellence in Selangor, which has several key engineering teams for the company, operational central planning and support functions in the region. The company remains firmly committed to Malaysia, valuing and appreciating the 45-year history and partnership with the Malaysian government and look forward to continuing to work in the country as it has been today.