Disk drive cluster development - a comparison between Thailand and Singapore

Abstract

      Recently, Thailand has overtaken Singapore as the largest exporter of hard disk drive (HDD). In Thailand, more than 100,000 workers are currently employed by the industry, which accounted for more than US$ 2.25 billion worth of exports during the first half of 2005, or six per cent of Thailand’s total exports. Four HDD giants – Seagate Technology, Hitachi Global Storage Technology (HGST), Fujitsu and Western Digital – have production bases in Thailand. In addition, companies supplying materials to these four manufacturers have production bases or representatives in Thailand. Because of this, the HDD industry has an almost complete supply chain in Thailand.

      This paper examines and analyzes the position of Thailand as the world leader in HDD manufacturing by comparison with the situation faced by Singapore in 1990s. By analyzing the size of the industry, government policy, human capital, and local firms’ technological capability, a framework for long-term development is proposed to