Hard drive shipments set a record in Q4 2005, says iSuppli

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Suppliers shipped 103.4 million hard disc drives (HDDs) in the fourth quarter of 2005, up 8.3 percent from 95.4 million in the third quarter, and a 20.9 percent rise from 85.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2004, according to iSuppli

Suppliers shipped 103.4 million hard disc drives (HDDs) in the fourth quarter of 2005, up 8.3 percent from 95.4 million in the third quarter, and a 20.9 percent rise from 85.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2004, according to iSuppli. This marks the first time HDD shipments have reached or exceeded the 100-million-unit level during a single quarter. The previous record was the 95.4 million units shipped during the third quarter of 2005.
“HDD shipments in the fourth quarter and in the second half of 2005 were boosted by strong demand from the consumer electronics market,” said Krishna Chander, senior analyst, storage systems, for iSuppli. “Products including MP3 players, Personal Media Players (PMPs) and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) are helping drive the growth of the HDD market. Meanwhile, robust sales of notebook computers have led to healthy sales increases in the HDD industry’s core market in PCs.”
The market achieved a strong fourth-quarter performance despite a 2005

packed with challenges and surprises for HDD suppliers.
First came Apple’s move to switch from HDDs to flash memory for its iPod music players, a development that hurt demand for 1-inch HDDs. Then Apple introduced its HDD-based iPod video, which led to a resurgence in sales of 1.8-inch drives. In general, flash memory in 2005 served as a bogeyman for the HDD industry, with much speculation that hard drives would be displaced by solid-state memory in consumer-electronics products and other devices.
It was also a year of consolidation, with Seagate in late December announcing it would acquire Maxtor. Finally, it was a year of supply uncertainty, with media shortages raising HDD production concerns.