TrendFocus, according to the StorageNewsletter resource, has summed up the results of a study of the global HDD market in the second quarter of 2024. If we consider the industry in unit terms, shipments remained at the level of the previous quarter – about 30 million units. However, in terms of total capacity, an increase was recorded from 262 to 290 EB, that is, by approximately 11%.
In the segment of enterprise-class LFF and SFF drives, as noted, demand continues to recover, including thanks to orders from hyperscalers. Sales of Nearline disks in the period from April to June inclusive amounted to 13.5 million units, and their total capacity reached 240 EB. However, demand for high-performance HDDs fell quarterly by more than a quarter, to 1.1 million units.
Image source: Seagate
Seagate is the leading player in the market. During the second quarter of 2024, the company sold an estimated 12.1–12.5 million discs, resulting in a 40.7% industry share. Shipments increased quarterly by 6.9-10.4%, but decreased by 15.4-12.6% year-on-year.
Western Digital is in second place with 11.8–12.2 million devices shipped, which corresponds to a share of 39.7%. In quarterly terms, sales increased by 0.7–4.1%, and in annual terms they decreased by 12.3–8.4%. Rounding out the top three is Toshiba, whose shipments amounted to 5.8–6.0 units: this is 12.7–9.6% less quarter-on-quarter, but 11.8–15.6% more year-on-year. The company’s share is about 19.5%.
The study also states that in the second quarter of 2024, sales of LFF drives for PCs and consumer electronics (including external HDDs) increased slightly, amounting to 9.4 million units. And demand for SFF solutions for mobile devices and consumer electronics decreased by 10% – to approximately 6.1 million units.