iSuppli recently released a report indicating Western Digital has overtaken Seagate in total number of hard drive shipments, with a 1.2 million HDD shipment lead over its top competitor.
WD shipped 51.5 million HDD units during Q1 2010, a massive 61.7 percent jump over the 31.6 million units it shipped during Q1 2009. Seagate shipped around 50.3 million units, and saw 31 percent growth compared to Q1 2009, but still generated more revenue from lower sales.
Even though WD overtook Seagate in total HDD units shipped, Seagate revenue racked up $3.1 billion, while WD's business received $2.6 billion revenue. The wide difference is due to Seagate's higher sales in the enterprise, as WD has sold more products to the consumer market.
Trailing behind both companies were Hitachi (28.7 million shipped), Toshiba/Fujitsu (17.5 million shipped), and Samsung Electronics (15.5 million shipped).
iSuppli believes the continued battle between WD and Seagate will be fierce as they focus on keeping control of the HDD market.
"Seagate will experience pressure from Western Digital in the battle for the top market position in the future,” said Fang Zhang, iSuppli HDD analyst. “While the low-cost model might cost Western Digital some revenue, that same approach will be the company’s point of leverage in its quest to pick up more business so that it can undermine Seagate", iSuppli believes.
Specifically, product competitiveness, appealing product launches, and keeping current customers and attracting new customers will be vital for both companies moving forward.
Consumer companies such as OCZ and Kingston, which dabble in flash memory, have left the HDD market to established companies in favor of catering to solid state drives. The traditional HDD manufacturers need to continue utilizing the HDD market before more OEMs and customers begin switching to SSD technology.
