Seagate owns one third of HDD market

Posted on Sunday, March 11 2007 @ 10:21 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes reports that Seagate owned nearly one third of the hard drive market in 2006 with a marketshare of 33.1%. Western Digital follows with 19.6% and Hitachi takes the third spot with 16.1%.
Global shipments of hard disk drives (HDDs) rose 15.5% in 2006, as suppliers managed to capitalize on growth opportunities while shrugging off challenges including price wars, component shortages and competitive upheavals, according to research firm iSuppli.

The HDD industry in 2006 shipped 434.2 million hard drives, up 15.5% from 375.8 million in 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2006, 119.7 million HDDs were shipped, up 15.8% compared to the same period a year earlier and an 8.3% increase from the third quarter, said the research firm.

Along with strong sales to established markets in computing and consumer-electronics products, the HDD industry benefited from the rise of a new application: external hard drives. In 2006, 2.6 million external HDDs were shipped, up 37% from 2005. Demand for external HDDs is being driven by the desire of consumers to store and backup large-sized video and audio files downloaded from Internet services, noted iSuppli.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



Loading Comments