History 2005: Miniature HDDs to Fuel Growth in 2005

The HDD drive industry, after shipping 305 million units in 2004, will expand to 378 million units in 2005, a growth rate of 24%, according to a study, The Storage Demand Analysis System, by Trendfocus, a market intelligence provider to the HOD industry.

It forecasts solid HDD unit growth for the next several years due to explosive growth in the sale of 1.8-inch and smaller storage devices.

“Consumer electronics devices are rapidly incorporating HDDs,  complementing core demand from PC and server markets,” states John Donovan, VP of Trendfocus. “It’s  not just digital video recorders (DVRs) and Xbox, it’s the iPod and its legion of clones that are stimulating innovation and investment. HOD sales  to CE applications will account for approximately 20% of unit output in 2005, and are on a trajectory to surpass 40% by 2008.”

HDD industry dynamics are rapidly evolving.

“Growth momentum will be fueled by miniature HDDs, 1.8-inch and smaller devices used in a variety of CE products,” adds Donovan. “Sales of HDDs to PCs and servers were exceptional in 2004, and will continue to be the backbone of storage demand for years. However, storage requirements for MP3 players, personal video players, and mobile phones, many of which will employ HDDs the size of postage stamps, are skyrocketing.”

Trendfocus sees demand for miniature drives doubling in 2005 and growing more than 50% yearly through 2008.

“And historical demand patterns, with the first half of each year typically weaker, may be changing. If customer demand does not slacken in the first half of the year, and HOD consumption in various CE markets develops as  we expect, 2005 will be another banner year for the HDD market,” says Donovan.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 206 on March 2005 from the former paper version of Computer Data  Storage Newsletter.