Seagate maintains top position in 2006

According to information provided by iSuppli, hard disk drive manufacturer, Seagate maintained the number one spot as the company with most shipments in 2006. Seagate holds a market share of 34%, while in second place Western Digital Corporation has 20% and runner up Hitachi has 17%. They also supplied some interesting statistics related to the industry as a whole:

“The HDD industry in 2006 shipped 434.2 million hard drives, up 15.5% from 375.8 million in 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2006, 119.7 million HDDs were shipped, up 15.8% compared to the same period a year earlier and an 8.3% increase from the third quarter,” said the research firm. “What's impressive is these strong sales for HDD manufacturers came at a time when the industry was facing multiple challenges," said Krishna Chander, senior analyst for storage systems at iSuppli.

We have a lot to look forward to this year, especially with the increasing presence of hybrid and flash HDD.