Western Digital knocks Seagate off HDD summit

Vendor nabs rival's top dog status in hard disk drive market for the first time, iSuppli research reveals

The winner: Western Digital overtook rival Seagate for first time ever in Q1

Western Digital usurped arch rival Seagate Techology in the hard disk drive (HDD) market for the first time during 2010's first quarter, claims market watcher iSuppli.

The analyst’s Q1 figures for the global HDD market show that Western Digital shipped 51.1 million units during the period, knocking Seagate into second place with 50.3 million.

Sequentially, Western Digital’s shipments were up by 3.2 per cent from 49.5m in Q4 2009, while Seagate’s rose by 0.8 per cent from 49.9m.

However, although Western Digital shipped more products than its rival during Q1, Seagate took home more in revenue, chalking up sales of $3.1bn (£2.1bn) to Western Digital’s $2.64bn.

Fang Zhang, storage systems analyst at iSuppli, said Seagate had managed to outstrip its rival in the revenue stakes because of its high number of enterprise customers.

He said: “In comparison, Western Digital employed a lower-cost business model that translated into reduced average selling prices and less revenue, but higher unit shipments.”

Zhang predicts that competition between the two vendors will continue, with Seagate coming under increasing pressure in the future.

He added: “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.”

Lower down the top five ranks, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Toshiba/Fujitsu and Samsung Electronics all retained their respective third, fourth and fifth place rankings from Q4 2009.

Of the three vendors, Hitachi GST enjoyed the highest quarter-over-quarter shipment growth during Q1, while Toshiba/Fujitsu and Samsung shipments both declined.