HDS joins post flood price hike

Will Dell and IBM follow suit?

Hitatchi Data Systems (HDS) has joined the flock of enterprise storage vendors to raise hard disk drive (HDD) prices after Thailand’s 2011 floods. 

Like NetApp and EMC, HDS will raise its HDD prices five to 15 percent above its current list prices from February 1, while HP plans to raise prices by up to 20 percent.  

“As with other companies in our industry, HDS has witnessed a global cost increase from hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturers due to the devastating floods in Thailand,” HDS said in a statement to The Register.

“To date, Hitachi has absorbed these price increases; however, on February 1, 2012, we will have to raise the list prices of the HDDs we sell by 5-15 per cent to offset the cost increases being passed to us from our suppliers.

"We expect the increases to be temporary until the industry returns to a more stable production level.”

Australian executives from HDS, the fourth largest enterprise storage vendor in the Asia Pacific region, confirmed last year that some of its component supplies had been affected by the floods.

The remaining major storage vendors yet to announce any change in 2012 HDD prices include Dell, IBM and Fujitsu, the latter of which noted at third quarter 2011 results in November that its server and PC businesses were impacted, Reuters reported.   

Following the floods, HDD suppliers Seagate and Western Digital have also cut warranties on some drives from three to two years for its channel partners, The Register reported late last year.