This article has been reproduced by the Supernet. Other media reprints are subject to the approval of Supernet.
After spending $19 billion to acquire SanDisk, WDC Western Digital has been betting on the NAND flash business. The HDD mechanical hard drive market has become thinner. Western Digital and Seagate have been unable to reverse this trend. What is needed now is to accelerate the transition.
Due to the decline in demand for mechanical hard drives, Western Digital has decided to close the HDD hard disk plant in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by the end of 2019. In 2016, Western Digital subsidiary HGST has closed its hard disk factory in Penang, Malaysia.
The Register website reported that Western Digital entered the Malaysian investment in 1973, initially producing custom semiconductors. In 1994, it became a HDD hard disk production line. After that, it employed about 13,000 people. In 2011, it also added $1.2 billion to invest in R&D facilities.
HGST, a subsidiary of Western Digital, closed its hard disk plant in Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia as early as 2016. The land where the factory was located began to be sold in February last year.
Aaron Rakers, senior analyst at Wells Fargo, said that after closing millions of square feet of factories in Malaysia, Western Digital has two HDD hard disk factories in Thailand. The factory in Bangbain covers an area of 1.7 million square feet. The area is 700,000 square feet.
In addition, Western Digital has a hard disk PCB production base in Johor, Malaysia, and SSD hard disk assembly and testing, media and R&D offices in Penang.
Western Digital officially issued a statement saying that 'in response to the long-term decline in demand for HDD hard drives, Western Digital has taken steps to rationalize the global hard disk manufacturing business, and will discontinue the hard disk manufacturing plant in Petaling Jaya by the end of 2019. Employees, customers, supplier partners and other stakeholders maintain close cooperation. '
Western Digital indicates that the data technology industry is undergoing major changes. This transformation is driving NAND flash and SSDs to replace traditional HDD hard drives. This change has also brought about a growing demand for NAND/SSD and a decline in HDD hard drive demand. So Western Digital decided to expand Penang's SSD manufacturing. Business, the company is in the final stage of the construction of the second SSD plant in Penang and will be put into production in the next few months.
Thanks to the cooperation with Toshiba for flash production, R&D, and Western Digital have a wide range of SSD production lines, it is possible to switch to SSD hard disk production when the HDD hard disk market is eroded.
A Western Digital spokesman said employees affected by the closure of the plant will receive assistance, including severance payments and skills support. Western Digital will maintain a center of excellence in Selangor, which has several key engineering teams, core operations and regional support functions, staff Will move to a new office in Selangor.
A Western Digital spokesman said that 'Western Digital will be firmly committed to investing in Malaysia. The company values and appreciates its 45 years of cooperation with the Malaysian government and looks forward to future common prosperity and success.'
Before the Western Digital, Seagate also shut down its hard disk factory in Suzhou, China, in early 2017. The production base was mainly the hard disk factory in Thailand.
