Seagate Technology strengthened its No. 1 sales position in the worldwide hard disk drive market in the first quarter of this year even before the company recorded its acquisition of No. 4-ranked Maxtor, market researcher iSuppli reported July 20.
The company also improved its standing despite stronger-than-expected overall demand and competition throughout the industry, an iSuppli spokesperson said.
Seagates market share is now at 29 percent, up from 27.5 percent a year ago.
Had the $1.9 billion Maxtor acquisition on May 22 been factored into these first-quarter numbers, the Seagate market share would have been 40.9 percent.
Overall, total hard drive sales climbed 16.5 percent over 2005, which outstripped iSupplis own forecasts of 15.4 percent.
“Global HDD shipments amounted to 101.7 million units in the first quarter of 2006, up 16.5 percent from the same period in 2005,” said Krishna Chander, senior storage analyst for iSuppli, in El Segundo, Calif.
Seagate shipped 29.5 million drives in the first quarter of 2006 and maintained its stranglehold in the enterprise computing market with a 51 percent market share.
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Seagate has products in nearly all HDD segments—except for the 1.8-inch market, a space it has said it will enter by the end of 2006.
Rankings for the HDD suppliers were unchanged between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006. The top 10 suppliers in terms of market share were: Seagate, 29 percent; Western Digital, 18.5; Hitachi, 14.4; Maxtor, 11.9; Toshiba, 9.3; Samsung, 8.6; Fujitsu, 6.8; Excelstor, 1.2; Cornice, 0.4; and GS Magic, 0.1.
iSuppli provides market intelligence services for the EMS, OEMs, and supplier communities.
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