HDD components grew 25 percent in 2010

NEW TRIPOLI, USA: While the hard disk drive (HDD) market recorded disk drive unit shipment growth of 17.1 percent in 2010, component manufacturers such as heads and suspensions grew 24.7 percent, according to according to a report, The Hard Disk Drive Industry: Market Analysis and Processing Trends, from The Information Network.

For example, shipments of recording heads used in HDD assembly production grew from 1,625 million units in 2009 to 2,026 million units in 2010. The report forecasts that 2,371 million thin film heads will ship in 2011.

Recording head shipments are based on the number of hard disk drives shipped and the number of heads per drive. The number of heads per drive will increase from 2.35 in 2003 to 3.25 in 2014.

Market shares for 2010 for thin film head suppliers are shown in the figure. TDK, a merchant supplier of heads, led the market with a 31.5 percent share. In 2010, Seagate manufactured 88 percent of its 605 million heads sold with its HDDs. WD manufactured 97 percent of its 631 million heads sold, and HGST manufactured 82 percent of its 338 million heads sold with its HDDs.Source: The Information Network, USA.