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HDD in Short Supply 2007/08/13 By Kim Dong-suk Hard disk drivers(HDD) are in short supply. The reasons include increased demand from digital handheld devices such as PMP and navigators, and lack of supply as some Japanese products were recalled due to technological problems. Sources say on August 12th that with the short supply, the price went up by more than 10%. In particular, 80Gb to 160Gb HDDs are running out of stock. The total domestic demand this year is expected to be 13 million units, of which 1.95 million or 15% is in short supply. Producers who are supposed to prepare for the new semester and holiday season, cannot even think about securing stocks. Such shortage was fueled by delay of parts supply, after earthquakes in Hokkaido and Nikata, Japan. Hitachi GST has supplied an average of 250,000 products per month to domestic PC makers and electronics manufacturers, but now it cannot since the earthquakes. The situation is same for Western Digital which is a supplier to Samsung Electronics and major domestic manufacturers. Shin Dong-min, president of Hitachi GST, said, “Although we make orders to the main office in Japan, it is hard to supply products because only a limited amount is assigned to the Korean office.” The short supply got worse, as one company which accounts 20% of the domestic market recalled all of its products due to convertibility problem. Such imbalance between demand and supply caused prices, increasing the price of 2.5 inch 80Gb HDD, which has the largest demand, by 10% since August. Shin Young-min, president of Western Digital Korea, said, “We’ve already received orders for the third quarters. The supply has been sluggish since July, and the situation is most serious for 2.5 inch HDD. But we expect that the prices will go up for all products when the new semester and holiday season begin.”