14 DAY TRIAL // That Seagate was going to boost its HDD market share after buying Samsung's HDD division is something that didn't really allow for doubt, but it looks like iSuppli checked to see just what the numbers really are.
The IT industry is no stranger to partial or total acquisitions of a company by another, especially in times when some product types are losing ground fast.
Not long ago, it was revealed that Seagate and Samsung had entered an agreement which, among other things, implied that the former fully buy the latter's HDD division.
This was a move somewhat similar to how Western Digital bought Hitachi and became the most massive HDD supplier in the world.
Analyst firm iSuppli decided to look at what this latest buyout means for the HDD market and found that Seagate now accounts for 40% of the HDD market.
“Overall, the reduction from five to three manufacturers considerably improves the stability and efficiency of the HDD industry,” said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at IHS.
“However, the acquisition also signals a recognition by Seagate and Samsung that conditions in the storage space will become more challenging in the future.”
With Toshiba and Fujitsu having performed a merger of sorts back in 2009, this leaves the HDD market divided between three entities.
Western Digital leads with roughly 50%, followed by Seagate (40%) and, finally, Toshiba (10%, obviously).
“Taken together, the mergers engineered by Seagate and Western Digital will be key to improving the sustainability of the HDD industry, IHS believes, demonstrating the industry’s nimble response to fast-occurring changes playing out in the storage environment,” said Ryan Chien, researcher for memory and storage at IHS.