Natural disasters in far-flung places such as Thailand and Japan would seem to have little connection to our digital lives. But in addition to the tragic  loss of lives, the severe weather is threatening to bring about a crisis in tech: According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gus Richard, the industry could run out of hard drives by the end of this month.

Because Thailand produces roughly half of the world’s HDDs, this could translate into less availability and higher costs. PC makers such as Apple ^[1], Dell ^[2], and Hewlett-Packard ^[3] could see an uptick of up to 60 percent in costs—and shortages between 60 million and 80 million units early next year.

Given the disruption in supply, does this mean higher PC costs for consumers?

Read more at CNET ^[4].