HDD Market to Achieve $94 Billion by 2026

Market Research Future presumes the global HDD market revenue to reach $93.88 billion at a 6.5% CAGR from 2014 to 2026 (forecast period).

The market is expected to grow due to the growing need for storage facilities among companies and the introduction of advanced and reliable SSDs. HDD manufacturers are investing heavily in cutting-edge technologies to provide companies and individuals with the most efficient storage facilities.

The HDD market is presently concentrated, with Western Digital Corporation, Seagate, and Toshiba responsible for more than 70% of the market share. The market for HDD is highly concentrated relative to the market for SSDs. The HDD segment has a market share of 80.5% in the overall HDD market. HDDs are commonly used in PCs and data centers.

Also, because the HDDs are cheaper than the SSDs, their demand is higher. However, the HDD industry experienced a decline in sales from 2014 to 2018, primarily due to the declining shipment of PCs across the globe.

However, the HDD market will pick up from 2020 due to the increasing need for such drives among data centers. Also, the shipment of PCs will increase dramatically in the coming years, as Microsoft Corporation has announced the termination of the Windows 7 OS by 2020. This will result in companies replacing PCs to use Windows 10 OS. In addition, companies are expected to update their systems to improve their IT security. All these trends will make a major contribution to the growing demand for HDDs. A number of HDD players have increased their production of SSD due to increased market demand for the same. In addition, the industry is registering a drop in HDD costs, making them more affordable for end-users.

Covid-19 Impact on HDD Market 
The HDD is an electro-mechanical storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital data. It is commonly used in data centers and PCs. The growing need for storage facilities between companies and the introduction of reliable and advanced SSDs is spurring the demand for HDDs.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread rapidly across the globe. People are forced to stay at home to stop the spread of the virus. Increasing numbers of people staying at home have led to increased use of the Internet, bolstering demand for online video/audio streaming, downloading, and video conferencing on applications such as Zoom. The increased use of the Internet during the lock down has led to the gen of vast amounts of data that need to be managed by data center facilities around the world. Data centers are processing these vast amounts of data, which leads to the adoption of HDDs and therefore drives the growth of the market. On the other hand, however, the halt in construction activities and the delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the construction of new data centers have reduced the adoption of HDDs, which is hindering the development of the market. In addition, due to the declining shipment of PCs prior to the pandemic, the HDD market has seen a decline in revenue.

During the pandemic, the widespread acceptance of work from home policy has contributed to a short-term increase in demand for PCs and other systems for remote work; nevertheless, it has also driven the demand for data centers that support cloud-based and remote work, in turn, propelling the demand for nearline HDDs for majority secondary storage and SSDs for primary storage throughout 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic affected HDD production in 1Q20, particularly in China and Southeast Asian HDD and HDD-component production sites in Thailand and Malaysia. The demand for nearline storage was expected to continue in 2Q20 as more work was being done remotely.

Market Segmentation
The global HDD market has been segmented based on type and application.
Based on the type, it has been segmented into HDD, SSDs, and hybrid disk drives. The HDD segment held the largest market share of 80% in 2018; However, the SSD segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 17.0%.

Based on the application, the global HDD market has been segmented into notebook, desktop, and servers. The notebook segment held the largest market share of 39% in 2018. However, the server segment is projected to register a CAGR of 9.3% during the assessment period.

Regional Analysis
Geographically, the global HDD industry has been segmented into the US, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East & Africa, and Central and South America.

China to lead the global market 
The country held the largest market share in 2018, with a market value of $17.15 billion in 2018; the market is projected to register a CAGR of 7.0% during the forecast period. Growth can be due to the existence of many manufacturing firms and the availability of low-cost raw materials and low-cost labor.

However, Japan is expected to have the highest CAGR of 7.6%. This is because this market is likely to provide considerable opportunities for vendors operating in the market. Some of the leading industry players are Buffalo Inc., Samsung, Hewlett-Packard Japan, Transcend, Toshiba, and Seagate Technology LLC.

Competitive Landscape 
With the presence of a large number of international and regional players, the global HDD market is moderately fragmented and competitive. Market players are actively involved in technological advancement, geographic expansion, and mergers and acquisitions in order to sustain their position in the market.

Notable Players in the global 5G technology market are:
• Western Digital Corporation (US)
• Transcend Information. Inc. (Japan)
• Seagate Technology LLC (US)
• Toshiba Corporation (US)
• Sony Corporation (Japan)
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (US)
• Samsung Electronics (South Korea)
• Adata Technology Co. Ltd. (Taiwan)
• Apple Inc. (US)
• Quantum Corp. (US)
• Mushkin Enhanced (US)
• SK Hynix Inc. (South Korea)
• Intel Corporation (US)
• Micron Technology Inc. (US).

Industry News
In January 2019, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation announced the MG08 Series, the industry’s largest capacity 16TB CMR HDD. With 33% more capacity than today’s commonly used 12TB drives and 14% more capacity than the previous 14TB models, the MG08 16TB drives are compatible with the broadest range of applications and OSs and accustomed to mixed random and sequential read and write workloads in cloud and traditional data center environments.

In April 2019, Sony launched 2 new external SSD drives, the high-performance SL-M series, and the standard compact SL-C series. High-speed SL-M and SL-C allow faster workflow when processing, editing, duplicating and storing data.

In May 2019, Transcend Information Inc., the largest manufacturer of storage and multimedia products, announced the release of StoreJet 25M3C, the latest USB Type-C portable HDD, to join its expanding family of USB Type-C portable storage devices.

In August 2019, Seagate released its Game Drive for Xbox Gears 5 Special Edition, the latest addition to Seagate’s line of storage for gamers in partnership with Microsoft and The Coalition.