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US-based Western Digital invests $74.1m in Thailand storage R&D
Western Digital is investing over THB2.3 billion (US$74.1 million) in a Thailand-based R&D project focused on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology.
The initiative aims to increase HDD storage capacity from 32 TB to up to 100 TB by 2029 to meet rising demand from data centers and the AI sector.
The project involves collaboration with the US and Japan, with Thailand concentrating on R&D for components and laser-based data recording processes.
Western Digital’s Thailand operations, established since 1997, include factories in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya and Prachin Buri, employing over 20,000 staff.
The company, headquartered in California, has invested more than THB120 billion (US$3.87 billion) in Thailand, with annual exports exceeding THB230 billion (US$7.41 billion).
HDDs remain vital for data storage, especially in data centers, due to their large capacity and lower cost compared to SSDs.
The R&D effort aims to develop local talent and supply chains, supporting Thailand’s position as a manufacturing hub for HDDs.
🔗 Source: Nation Thailand
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
The R&D project sits inside a much larger spend
- Thailand’s Board of Investment approved a plan to expand Western Digital’s production facilities worth about THB23.5 billion (about $693 million), and the THB2.3 billion R&D initiative is one piece of it 1.
- Most of the money goes toward manufacturing growth to meet rising demand from hyperscale cloud providers (giant operators such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure) and other data centers, including demand tied to generative AI 2.
- Seagate made a similar bet with THB16 billion (about $470 million) for its Thailand sites, reinforcing Thailand’s role as the manufacturing base for about 80% of the world’s hard disks 2.
Advanced HDDs target the price gap in AI storage
- The R&D program aims to keep hard drives as the low cost option in data centers. WD’s CEO Irving Tan said HDDs will account for 80% of storage media deployed in hyperscale environments 3.
- WD says 100TB-class drives and new performance features can handle AI workloads that were “previously considered flash-only.” It also cites flash cost premiums of 6-10x versus HDDs 4.
- Lower storage costs could help data centers keep pace with the huge datasets that AI models need, as data volumes keep climbing along with storage demand 5.
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