electroiq.com
February 29, 2012 -- Seagate Technology LLC recaptured the lead in hard disk drive (HDD) shipments during Q4 2011, ousting Western Digital Corp. thanks to "a fortuitous accident in geography" that kept Seagate's Thailand HDD manufacturing plant out of the floods last year, said IHS.
Seagate shipped 46.9 million HDD units worldwide in Q4, compared to 28.5 million for Western Digital, which suffered heavy manufacturing losses in the floods, shows IHS iSuppli's Storage Space Market Brief. Seagate's Q4 shipments fell 8% from Q3, whereas Western Digital saw a 51% decline. HDD shipments from the industry’s top-5 manufacturers (Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Samsung Electronics) retreated sharply in the fourth quarter to 123.3 million units, down 30% from Q3.
This is Seagate's first time atop the rankings in 2 years. It is a long-standing leader in HDD revenues, however, as it supplies higher-margin products.
The new rankings mean that Seagate in the fourth quarter controlled 38% of overall HDD shipments, Western Digital 23%, Toshiba 16%, Hitachi GST 14%, and Samsung 9%.
| Table. Worldwide HDD shipment ranking in Q4 2011 vs Q3 2011 (Millions of units). SOURCE: IHS iSuppli Research, February 2012. | | Company | Q4 shipment units (M) | Q4 market share (%) | Q3 shipment units (M) | Q3 market share (%) | | Seagate | 46.9 | 38 | 50.8 | 29 | | Western Digital | 28.5 | 23 | 57.8 | 33 | | Toshiba | 19.3 | 16 | 22.2 | 13 | | Hitachi GST | 17.2 | 14 | 31.9 | 18 | | Samsung | 11.3 | 9 | 12.5 | 7 | | Total | 123.3 | 100 | 175.2 | 100 |
Seagate's ability to avoid the October Thai floods, which were the most destructive in 50 years, led to this top ranking, observed Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at IHS. |
