HDD Shipped Down 10% to 13% From 4Q14 to 1Q15 – Trendfocus

Analyst firm Trendfocus, Inc. just revealed its preliminary results  for the worldwide HDD markt in 1Q15 in its SDAS: HDD Information Service.

Preliminary 1Q15 Results: Weak PC Demand Drives Down HDD Total Available Market
10-13% Sequentially to 123-126.5 Million

Very weak demand for PCs combined with normal seasonal softness and a pause in datacenter demand drive HDD shipments to the lowest level since the Great Thailand flood in 4Q11

3.5″ Desktop /CE HDDs
With the commercial refresh of Windows XP-based computers largely complete and some buyers opting to wait for Windows 10 (September), there were few demand drivers for desktop PCs in 1Q15. Hence, demand for desktop HDDs declined more steeply in 1Q15 compared to the prior year. Other segments of 3.5″ desktop/CE HDDs remained a bit steadier, including HDDs for the surveillance and SMB NAS markets.

2.5″ Mobile/CE HDDs
Notebook PC builds by the major ODMs were down in January and February with very weak consumer demand in many geographies. The forecasted jump in March ODM builds were not enough to offset the weakness of the first two months of the quarter. CE shipments to game consoles were also down seasonally, combining with the mobile HDD weakness to account for a significant portion of the total HDD TAM decline in 1Q15. For 2Q15, gaming HDD demand should be up ahead of 2H15 builds and sales, while demand for mobile HDDs for notebook PCs remains less certain.

3.5″/2.5″ Enterprise HDDs
After two record quarters of shipments due to strong purchases from a broad swath of datacenter and traditional enterprise customers, nearline HDD demand softened in 1Q15, declining an estimated 1 million HDDs sequentially. Shipments of traditional enterprise HDDs held nearly steady from the prior quarter, providing one bright spot for the 1Q15 TAM.

HDDs Shipped in 1Q15 (preliminary results)
(units in million)

(Source: Trendfocus, April 6, 2015)