Thailand approves Western Digital's $693 million investment project

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has approved Western Digital's 23.5 billion baht ($693 million) project to expand hard disk production in the country, Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI) said on Monday, as cloud technology and data centre demand grows.

The investment would boost the Thai economy by adding exports worth 200 billion baht per year and creating an extra 10,000 jobs, the BOI said.

Western Digital's Thai facility currently employs 28,000 people in Thailand, where some 80% of the world's hard disks are made, according to the BOI.

Thailand has approved 82.6 billion worth of investments in the hard disk industry in the decade. Last year, rival hard disk maker Seagate made an expansion with a 16 billion baht investment.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy expects overall investment applications to reach 800 billion baht for 2024.

(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon and Chayut Setboonsarng; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry)

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