WW USB Flash Drives Shipments Increased 9% Quarterly

USB flash drive shipments increased to 43.559 MM units in 3Q08, a change of 9% from 2Q08, according to USB Flash Drive Tracker Q3 2008, from the Santa Clara Consulting Group. SCCG forecasts drive shipments to increase in 4Q08, influenced by the holiday season and aggressive pricing. Shipments are projected to reach 170.518 million units by the end of 2008.

The European market had the leading regional share in 3Q08, with 33.77%. The Americas were the second-leading market, with 28.80%, followed by AsiaPac, with 28.61%, and Japan, with 8.83%.

The average global capacity for USB flash drives was 3.764GB, but this ranged from a low of 2.807GB in Japan to a high of 4.079GB in The Americas. The leading segment was 2GB, with 37% of the market. Products with capacities of 4GB and greater increased their share of the market and represented 54% of unit sales in Q3.

Prices dropped dramatically in 3Q08, with USB flash drive pricing into distribution changing by an average of -1%. This was influenced by excess supply and aggressive pricing in the market.

Global USB flash drive market leaders in 3Q08 were :

Kingston, 14.73%
Transcend, 13.48%
SanDisk, 12.63%
Sony, 5.39%
Verbatim, 3.26%
Lexar, 2.54%
Buffalo, 2.26%
PNY, 2.07%
Imation, 1.68%, and
Memorex, 0.61%.

The market continues to be quite fragmented, with few brands commanding a significant global position and a number of vendors having strong regional positions in specific countries.

NAND flash chips were in oversupply in 3Q08. This resulted in significant price declines. Samsung maintained its lead in NAND chip sales, and Toshiba continued to be a strong second. Both of these companies continued to ramp production despite the oversupply, intent on maintaining their respective market shares. Other manufacturers, including Hynix/ST Micro and Micron, slowed production plans. SanDisk maintains a joint venture with Toshiba to produce flash chips, but sold a 30% interest in this venture back to Toshiba in 4Q08.