Irvine-based drive maker Western Digital Corp. extended its market share lead in the second quarter over Scotts Valley-based rival Seagate Technologies LLC.
Western Digital shipped a record 53.8 million hard disk drives in the second quarter, up 6% from the first quarter, for a total market share of 32%, according to a new report from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp., a unit of Englewood, Colo.-based IHS Inc.
Seagate shipped 52.3 million units, up 7.2 percent, for a market share of 31%.
Total drive shipments topped 167.1 million units, up 4.1% from the first quarter. Rounding out the top five were: San Jose-based Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd. at 16% of the market, Toshiba/Fujitsu with 11%, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. at 10%.
“Despite some disruptions resulting from the Japan quake disaster in March and the continuing de-cline of netbook sales because of tablet devices, (drive) shipments rose during the second quarter, with each hard drive maker meeting its revenue forecast,” according to Fang Zhang, a storage systems analyst for IHS.
Zhang credited part of the uptick to slower PC sales as computer makers eased supplies in the wake of the Japan disasters in March. Newer computers are loaded with storage, which cuts short-term demand for hard drives.
Seagate continued to hold its top revenue ranking in the hard disk drive market, bringing in $2.9 billion. Seagate currently sells more pricey corporate drives than its competitors.
That beat Western Digital’s $2.4 billion. The company is a bigger player in consumer products, where prices are lower.
Hard disk drive shipments are projected to increase 3.4% in the current quarter, with back-to-school and preholiday season sales expected to improve and corporate PC upgrades helping sales, according to iSuppli.
Pending Acquisition
Western Digital’s pending $4.3 billion acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, expected to close in the fourth quarter, is set to make the company the undisputed leader in drives. It would also increase its corporate business.
The move prompted Seagate in April to offer $1.4 billion for Samsung Electronics Co.’s disk drive business.
The buy would give Seagate added market share and access to Samsung flash memory chips used in new solid state drives that use chips instead of spinning disks to store data.
If both deals are approved, it would trim the big players in the drive market from five to three, with Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. being the other.
