Hitachi Global Storage Technologies recently announced the appointment of Thao A Nguyen as vice president of worldwide hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturing. Nguyen will lead three Hitachi GST HDD manufacturing facilities in Thailand, Singapore and Shenzhen. Nguyen will be based in Shenzhen, where he will be the most senior executive overseeing HDD manufacturing, a clear sign of the company's commitment to China.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi GST, said, "Hitachi HDD manufacturing plants in Asia, including Shenzhen, have experienced tremendous growth in recent years and have helped to satisfy strong customer demand for our products. Today's announcement will help us better serve our global customers, especially customers with operations in Asia."

Nguyen has more than 20 years of experience working in the HDD industry, as well as creating and managing technology and product development for Hitachi GST, IBM, Maxtor, Micropolis, and SAE Magnetics Ltd., with teams ranging in size from 10 to more than 1,000 engineers. During his career, he has contributed to the development of more than 23 patents in HDD manufacturing, including in the areas of media, laser texture technology and equipment, drive operation and thermal fly height control.

Nguyen holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelor degree in Mathematics and Physics from Boston College.