Western Digital to invest $693 million to expand hard drive production in Thailand

In Thailand, the American company Western Digital operates an enterprise responsible for producing 80% of all hard drives in the world. The company is going to increase its staff by almost one and a half times and invest $693 million in expanding production; this initiative has already received support from local authorities.

Image source: Western Digital

Reuters reported that Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) has approved Western Digital’s project. According to local officials, the implementation of the project will allow the company to increase its workforce by 10,000 employees, and increase the annual export of hard drives by $5.9 billion in monetary terms. Western Digital currently employs approximately 28,000 people in Thailand.

Over the course of a decade, the Thai authorities have approved a total of $2.43 billion in investments to develop hard drive production in the country. Last year, the American company Seagate Technology received permission to invest $470 million to expand its production capacity in the country. In total, at the end of the current year, about $23.5 billion was invested in various sectors of the Thai economy.