Manufacturers benefit from high hard disk prices. - According to research by consultants IHS iSuppli, the floods in Thailand in the summer of 2011 upset the hard disk supply chain and pushed up prices. The average pice of hard disks is now USD 65, up 27% on the third quarter of 2011 (before the floods). IHS iSuppli says prices will not return to normal until 2014. The immediate impact of this price hike is a rise in revenue and profit for hard disk manufacturers, which made a record USD 9.6 billion in the first quarter of 2012. The gross profit margins of Seagate and Western Digital, the two biggest hard disk manufacturers (which corner 46% and 43% of the market respectively) rose by 37% (Seagate) and 32% (Western Digital), and profit margins will remain high for the year to come. (IL)