Thailand approves Western Digital’s $693m expansion

Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) has approved on Monday Western Digital’s plan to invest 23.5 billion baht ($693 million) in expanding its hard disk production in the country.

This expansion is driven by the increasing demand for cloud technology and data centres.

The investment is expected to significantly boost the Thai economy, adding 200 billion baht per year in exports and creating 10,000 new jobs.

Western Digital’s Thai facility already employs 28,000 people, making Thailand a major hub for hard disk manufacturing, accounting for approximately 80 per cent of global production.

Thailand has demonstrated strong support for the hard disk industry, approving investments worth 82.6 billion baht in the past decade.

Last year, Seagate, another major hard disk manufacturer, also expanded its operations in Thailand with a 16-billion-baht investment.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy anticipates that overall investment applications will reach 800 billion baht in 2024.

Attribution: Reuters

Subediting: M. S. Salama