14 DAY TRIAL // 2008 was a very bad year for the IT industry as a whole and companies were not exactly optimistic when 2009 came. However, thanks to the excellent marketing performance of netbooks, the advancements in flash memory and, especially, the evolution of green computing helped turn the situation around, so that 2008's situation was not repeated. With the economy slowly getting back on its feet, companies are seeing revenue increases once again. Kingston, for instance, recently revealed that its 2009 global revenues increased by $100 million compared with 2008, for a total of $4.1 billion.
In the company's press release, Kingston says that it was able to avoid further revenue decline thanks to a number of reasons, among which were a stronger demand from consumers and corporate customers, an overall increase in average selling prices and, last but not least, Kingston's entrance in the SSD segment.
"The memory market saw some financial recovery last year like many other industries and Kingston was able to benefit from the general rise in DRAM and Flash pricing," John Tu, co-founder, Kingston, said. "We also expanded our product line when we entered the SSD market at the beginning of 2009 and within 12 months, have gained a strong foothold in this burgeoning area."
"A year ago at this time, we were bracing for a bad year. Our company was lucky to catch some good breaks along the way that worked in our favor," David Sun, co-founder, Kingston, added. "Together, with the support of employees, partners, vendors and customers, we were able to get through some tough times and see better days ahead. We are very happy to be where we are."
2008 turned out quite unfavorable for Kingston, and the whole IT market, because an oversupply in chips combined with a weak global economy caused a downturn in the memory industry. 2009, however, was the second-highest grossing year for Kingston ever since it began operating in 1987. The first time the company reached $1 billion was in 1995, surpassed by the $2 billion in 2004 and $3 billion in 2005. The number-one place is held by 2007, when the company scored $4.5 billion.