Dylan McGrath EE Times (03/22/2010 4:55 PM EST)

SAN FRANCISCO—Seagate Technology LLC retained its position as the leading manufacturer of hard disk drives (HDDs) in the fourth quarter of 2009, with unit shipments increasing by 8 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp.

With about 31 percent market share, Seagate shipped roughly 49.9 million HDD units in the fourth quarter, up from 46.3 million in the third quarter of 2009, according to iSuppli (El Segundo, Calif.) said.

To stay atop the heap last quarter, Seagate had to withstand a strong challenge by No. 2 player Western Digital Corp. (Lake Forest, Calif.), which increased revenue by 19 percent sequentially to $2.57 billion and held 30 percent of the HDD market, according to iSuppli.

"The tenacious hold at the top for Seagate surprised many observers who thought Western Digital would bypass its primary competitor in the fourth quarter of last year," said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at iSuppli, in a statement.

Click on image to enlarge.

ISuppli said it expects Seagate to uphold its peak ranking in the first quarter of 2010, with Western Digital remaining runner up. Each company is expected to increase capital expenditures this year to an estimated $750 million, iSuppli said.

Seagate has been the leader in HDDs for more than 30 years, Zhang said. Western Digitial has never finished with higher market share in a quarter, he said.

According to iSuppli's most recent forecast, overall HDD shipments are expected to decrease slightly in the current quarter compared with the last, due to seasonal patterns. But iSuppli said it expects industry supply chains to remain tight until the second half of the year in view of continuing strong demand for product.

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