Worldwide Hard Disk Drive 2006-2010 Forecast: Record-breaking Years Lie Ahead,

IDC: HDD Industry to Continue Breaking Records 2005 was a record-breaking year for the Worldwide hard disk drive (HDD) industry in terms of both shipments and revenue, a new IDC study reveals.

Among the key records broken in 2005 were the following:

• global HDD unit shipments increased to nearly 381 million drives, a 24.4% increase over 2004

• Revenue closed at $27.9 billion, breaking the 1997 record of $27.8 billion

• The World's smallest (0.85 inch) and largest (500GB) HDDs began to ship in 2005

• The World's first perpendicular recording drive shipped in 2005

Over the next several years, the industry is poised to surpass the records set in 2005 - even in the midst of difficult technology transitions, further consolidation, and perplexing adoption patterns in consumer electronics markets. Competing storage technologies will challenge certain small form factor disk drives, but data growth will increase the demand for higher capacity disk drives in traditional form factors.

IDC sees the future of the HDD industry in a positive light and predicts the following:

• Cumulative Worldwide HDD shipments will exceed 3 billion units from 2005-2010

• The 3.5 inch form factor will continue to provide the highest unit shipment volume of any HDD form factor through 2010

• Desktop-class drive will continue to generate significant shares of revenue (up to 80% for some HDD suppliers)

• Consumer electronic HDD shipments will experience a 23.7% CAGR for 2005–2010

Worldwide Hard Disk Drive 2006-2010 Forecast: Record-breaking Years Lie Ahead,

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