Thailand Flooding Update
BANGKOK -- So called "50-year floods" have forced the closure of seven industrial parks (estates) in Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces bordering Bangkok. Approximately 375 citizens have died and 650,000 people have been temporarily displaced from work. Concerns remain pending the high tides expected next week.
Thailand is working to protect industrial parks in eastern Bangkok including Bangpoo, Wellgrow and Lad Krabang.
Thailand is a major producer of hard disk drives, among other electronics components and products. Factory closures will reduce the HDD supplies by about 25 million units in the first quarter of 2012, says Deutsche Bank analyst Sherri Scribner. PC manufacturers appear to 4 to 6 weeks' inventory, ample for the holiday season.
The following is a list of electronics companies affected by the floods around Bangkok. This list will be updated regularly.
Advanced Printed Circuit Board (APCB) - Suspended operations at its PCB manufacturing plant in Ayutthaya. Plans to bring partial operations back online in February (DigiTimes, Dec. 20)
Apex Circuit International - Unaffacted. (DigiTimes, Oct. 12)
Benchmark Electronics - Water breached levees and there is unspecified damage to Ayudhaya plant; equipment moved; suspended operations (company, Oct. 17)
Canon - Suspended operations; temporarily moved ink jet printer production to Vietnam (AFP, Oct. 16)
Celestica - No sign of flooding in Laem Chabang (Stock Market Wire, Oct. 28)
Chin-Poon (Draco) - Plans to resume operations by second quarter 2012. (DigiTimes, Dec. 20)
Delta Electronics - No damage to facilities at Bangpoo Industrial estate at Sumutprakarn and Wellgrow Industrial estate at Chachoensao, east of Bangkok. (Reuters, Oct. 26)
Fabrinet - Restarted operations at Pinehurst campus Nov. 7. Chokchai campus remains closed; possibly will not be reopened. (company, Nov. 7)
Ford - Suspended car assembly (AFP, Oct. 16)
Fujikura - Has begun cleanup of flex PCB facilities. Expects to resume partial operation at the end of January. (company, Dec. 20)
Honda - Suspended car assembly (AFP, Oct. 16)
Hutchinson Technology - Suspended operations at facilities in Ayutthaya; will increase production in US (company, Oct. 13)
Isuzu - Suspended car assembly (AFP, Oct. 16)
KCE Electronics - Plans to resume operations by second quarter 2012. (DigiTimes, Dec. 20)
Microsemi Corp. - Suspended operations at two plants (company, Nov. 10)
Nidec - Resumed operations at Rangsit factory on Oct. 25 (company, Oct. 25)
Nikon - Suspended operations; hopes to resume operations in January (company, Dec. 1)
Nippon Mektron - Resumed operations. (company, Dec. 5)
ON Semiconductor (Sanyo Semiconductor) - Suspended Sanyo Semiconductor operations on Oct. 16. Will not bring site in Ayutthaya back online. Plans to maintain limited production at Bang Pa In site. (company, Dec. 8)
Rohm Semiconductor - Partially resumed operations and aim for full recovery of all products by February. (company, Nov. 28)
Sanmina-SCI - Factory operations continue (site represents 3-4% of company revenue) (company, Nov. 1)
Seagate Technology - Operations at production plants in Samutprakarn and Nakornratchasima constrained due to external suppliers. (Bloomberg, Nov. 29)
Toshiba - Ceased operations at nine production sites in Bangkadi Industrial Park and also its plant at the Nava Nakorn estate. Operations to resume in January at the earliest. Nonthaburi province plant was operating as normal. (Reuters, Oct. 26)
Senju Metal - Operating as normal. (company, Nov. 1)
SVI Public Co. - Operations at Bangkadi Industrial Park still offline. Is resuming operations at Chaeng Wattana, with shipments to begin by end of November. (company, Oct. 25).
Toyota - Suspended car assembly until at least October 22 (AFP, Oct. 16)
Western Digital - Restarted two hard disk drive plants (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2)
