While there always remains a user-base for traditional mechanical hard drives, the trend obviously is NAND storage. Western Digital will be closing a production facility in Malaysia, this year already as the demand for HDDs is on the decline.
The new has been confirmed with The Register. On the opposing side, WD will open up a new SSD factory. The location that will be closed is Petaling Jaya in Malaysia. A WD spokesperson mentioned that the HDD assembly site will be halted by the end of next year, and ramp up flash drive manufacturing; In response to declining long-term demand for client HDDs, Western Digital has taken steps to rationalize its HDD manufacturing operations globally. The company will decommission its HDD manufacturing facility in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, by the end of calendar 2019. This transition will be executed in close collaboration with employees, customers, supply partners and other critical stakeholders.
The data technology industry is undergoing substantial change. This market transformation is driving increased adoption of SSDs and NAND flash in traditional HDD applications. The change has contributed to growth in SSD/NAND flash and declining long-term demand for client HDDs. Consequently, Western Digital plans to expand SSD manufacturing in Penang. The company is in the final stages of commissioning its second SSD facility in Penang, which will go into production in the coming months. Thanks to its flash fab joint-venture with Toshiba, WD has a broad line of solid-state drives, and can sell them instead of hard disk drives in markets suffering HDD shipment erosion.
"Impacted employees will receive assistance, including severance compensation and upskilling support," a WD spokesperson told us. "Western Digital will retain a Center of Excellence in Selangor. This center will have several key engineering teams, core operational planning and regional support functions. They will relocate to new offices within Selangor.
"Western Digital remains firmly committed to Malaysia. The company values and appreciates its 45-year history of partnership with the Malaysian government and looks forward to many more years of shared prosperity and success.”
Western Digital shuts down factory for hard drives, opens one for SSDs
