Global shipments of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) rose 15.5% in 2006, as suppliers managed to capitalize on growth opportunities while shrugging off challenges including price wars, component shortages and competitive upheavals, according to iSuppli. The HDD industry in 2006 shipped 434.2 mln hard drives, up 15.5% from 375.8 mln in 2005. In Q4 2006, 119.7 mln HDDs were shipped, up 15.8% compared to the same period a year earlier and an 8.3% increase from Q3 2006. Along with strong sales to established markets in computing and consumer-electronics products, the HDD industry benefited from the rise of a new application: external hard drives. In 2006, 2.6 mln external HDDs were shipped, up 37% from 2005.
| 2006 hard drive sales | ||
| Supplier | 2005 | 2006 |
| Seagate | 28.7% | 33.1% |
| WDC | 17.7% | 19.6% |
| Hitachi GST | 15.5% | 16.1% |
| Samsung | 7.2% | 10.0% |
| Toshiba | 8.7% | 9.0% |
| Fujitsu | 6.4% | 6.9% |
| Maxtor | 14.1% | 3.7% |
| Excelstor | 1.0% | 1.4% |
| Cornice | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| GS MagicStore | 0.2% | 0% |
| Other | 0% | 0% |
| Source: iSuppli | ||