Of Interest:
BW0308 JAN 30,1997 19:09 PACIFIC 22:09 EASTERN
( BW)(TRENDFOCUS) Hard Disk Drive Market Poised for Robust 1997;
Seagate, Quantum, Western Digital Dominated in 1996; Industry Poised
for 24% Growth in 1997 as PC, Server Markets Accelerate Storage
Requirements; 106.1 Million Units Sold Worldwide in 1996; U.S.
Maintains Lead, but Japan, Korea Close Gap
Business Editors & High Tech Writers
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 1997--The hard disk
drive industry is preparing for strong growth in 1997, following on
the 106 million units shipped worldwide in 1996, according to
industry totals just compiled by TrendFOCUS Inc., a Palo Alto-based
market research firm. American companies maintained a dominant 86%
share of the market, but Japanese and Korean companies are
challenging for market share.
Fueled by PC shipments, a strong upgrade market, and booming
sales of network servers and workstations, the demand for disk
drives is spiraling upward. "Last year, the disk drive industry
further solidified its electronics industry position, by providing
more storage capacity at lower prices," stated John Donovan, vice
president of TrendFOCUS. "No other technology has provided a more
definable, cost-effective enhancement to computers like the disk
drive."
Average storage capacities skyrocketed last year. "Entering
1996, the average desktop PC drive stored 875 MB. At year's end,
the average capacity was 1.4 GB, a 60+% improvement -- at even lower
prices than 875 MB drives were sold," added Donovan. "Unlike new
processors or monitors, disk drives offer higher capacities and
performance at steadily lower prices with each new generation," said
Donovan.
Industry-standard formats won out handily. 3.5" drives, the
desktop PC standard, withstood a resurgent 5.25" effort. The same
was true in the portable market. 2.5" drives dominated the portable
storage market, and 3.0" drives were a non-factor in 1996. "But
with at least three suppliers entering the 3.0" segment, 2.5"
drives will be challenged in 1997," added Donovan.
Removable hard drives, sold primarily by Iomega and SyQuest
Technology, posted outstanding gains in 1996. Aggressive marketing
and lower prices will broaden demand for removable drives in the
late-1990s.
-0-
*T
Disk Drive Industry Sales, Units in thousands
1995 1996 Change
5.25" 409 4,511 1002.9%
3.5" 78,461 87,215 11.2%
3.0" -- 21 NA
2.5" 9,906 12,871 29.9%
1.8" 360 248 -31.1%
Removable 730 1,127 54.4%
Total 89,866 105,993 17.9%
-0-
Seagate Technology regained the top market position via its
acquisition of Conner Peripherals early in the year. Quantum was
the second largest supplier, but Western Digital made the most
significant market share gain.
"But while U.S. suppliers dominated, non-U.S. suppliers again
made impressive gains," stated Donovan. "Fujitsu, Toshiba, Samsung
and others are investing and will challenge U.S. suppliers across
the product spectrum."
-0-
1995 share 1996 share
Seagate Technology 31.9%(a) 27.4%
Quantum 22.4% 22.1%
Western Digital 13.7% 18.2%
IBM 11.1% 10.3%
Others, U.S. 10.0% 7.7%
Others, non-U.S. 10.9% 14.3%
(a) Includes Conner Peripherals
*T
-0-
"The 1997 outlook is very strong. PC growth will be stellar
again in 1997, thanks to wider adoption of multimedia, large software
suites and a healthy upgrade market. Storage demand from servers
and workstations is booming, the convergence of the PC with
entertainment is boosting storage needs," said Donovan. "We expect
the drive industry to grow even faster in 1997 to more than 130
million units."
--30--cmf/sf* ap/sf
CONTACT: TrendFOCUS Inc.
Mark Geenen or John Donovan, 415/917-8320
|
