Computer Hard Drives: Export/Import Profile of Global and U.S. Trade

21/08/2012 by Isaac Thompson Comments Off on Computer Hard Drives: Export/Import Profile of Global and U.S. Trade

Hard Drives

Integral to almost every computer is a hard drive.  Hard drives write, store, and retrieve digital information usually on a disk. These disks are coated with shiny metal that the computer writes on and later can access. Hard drives’ capability and speed have drastically increased over the years while production costs have reduced. Examples of external hard drives are iPods, storing 160 GB a few years ago, and thumb drives. This integral part is in almost every computer.

Hard Drive World Market Exporters 

The top hard drive exporter is China with 16.8 billion dollars worth of sales in 2009. China sells 31% of the world’s hard drives market. Tech savvy Thailand comes in second, securing 16 billion dollars worth of hard drive sales in 2009, making up another 30% of the market. United States is the sixth largest distributor of hard drives, bringing in 2.6 billion dollars from foreign sales in 2009. United States is represented by dark green in the pie chart below.

Hard drive sales world top exporters China Thailand software hardware computers CPU personal external internal United States dollar value market percentage pie chart

World’s Top Importers

The world’s top importer of hard drives is also China. China spent 10 billion dollars on foreign built hard drives in 2009, buying 19% of the internationally traded commodity. United States was the second largest buyer of foreign made hard drives, spending 9.4 billion dollars in 2009.

Top five world importers of hard drives CPU personal computers market dollar value country China United States dollar value percentage 2009

United States Hard Drive Sources

United States bought 83% of their foreign-made hard drives from 4 countries: China, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. These 4 countries account for around $8 billion dollars worth of America’s foreign spending dollars which leave the shore. China is the largest seller of hard drives to the States. Thailand is the second largest. Since Thailand is geographically smaller and their population is substantially less than China’s, there are less Thailand companies. Yet Thailand’s sales to the United States almost equal that of China’s. Here is a list documenting the 17 Thailand manufacturers/dealers of hard drives selling to the United States. This list includes companies by name, addresses, phone numbers, city present in, postal code, employment numbers, and head directors names. If you wish a comprehensive copy of this list, please let me know, I’ll be happy to send it to you.

Western digital Thailand manufactures of hard drives employment records address company names age electronics co limited head CEO presidents compensation

Thailand’s Largest Hard Drive Manufacturer: Western Digital and its President 

John Coyne

Contrary to the company’s name, Western Digital is the largest hard drive company in Thailand. It is located in Bang Pa-In, central Thailand, and the name of the president is John Coyne. John is an anglo name, as is John himself. He serves as Chief Executive Officer.  Here is a link to his Forbes People Profile. John received 7 million dollars in compensation in 2010 alone.

Data, Uses & Reports

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