Fang Zhang iSuppli: Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) Revenue to Rise 18.4% in 2010

March 12, 2010

After suffering a decline 2009, global revenue from shipments of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Optical Disk Drives (ODDs) used in computers is expected to grow in 2010 as PC shipments rise on the strength of the economic recover.

Worldwide revenue from shipments of HDDs used in computer applications is expected to amount to $27.7 billion in 2010, up 18.4 percent from $23.4 billion in 2009. Computer-oriented ODD revenue will increase to $14.8 billion in 2010, up 7.6 percent from $13.7 billion in 2009. In comparison, computer-oriented HDD revenue declined by 11.7 percent in 2009, while that of ODD decreased by 6.3 percent.

“The 2010 economic recovery will bring rising sales of PCs,” said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at iSuppli. “The notebook sector is expected to be particularly strong, with shipments outgrowing those of desktops. This will drive the robust increase in HDD shipments.”

Other factors contributing to the rise in demand in 2010 include new server purchases and the migration to 2.5-inch HDDs in data centers to achieve cost reductions. Furthermore, the adoption of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 operating system by the enterprise business segment is helping to propel PC sales. Shipments also are continuing to rise for external drives used for the storage of gaming, music and movies.

iSuppli expects HDD revenue for computers in the first quarter of 2010 to decrease slightly to $6.6 billion, down from $6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, reflecting the normal seasonal slowdown. However, HDD revenue is set to recover to the fourth-quarter 2009 level by the second quarter of 2010.

The computer-oriented ODD market, on the other hand, won’t recover to its fourth quarter of 2009 revenue level of $4.1 billion during any single quarter of 2010. However, the market will grow on an annual basis in 2010.

Furthermore, beginning in the fourth quarter, ODD revenue will gradually rise as demand increases for gaming, movies and high-quality sound systems.