Hard disk drive sales in Q1 2023 fell significantly by 35% year-over-year in Q1 2023. This is because PC and consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers remain cautious about acquiring new hardware due to uncertain demand. However, the most surprising event of the quarter was the continued decline in shipments of nearline HDDs, the most lucrative segment of the hard drive market.
Unit shipments down, exabyte shipments down
Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital HDD shipments were estimated at 33.5 million units and 34.9 million units, down 35% year-over-year. blocks and files.
| row 0 – cell 0 | Q1 2023 | Q1 2022 | change |
| near line | 10.2 million | 18.8 million | -54.3% |
| PC client + CE | 22.5 million | 31.25 million | -28% |
| 3.5-inch DT+CE | 12.5 million | 16.447 million | -twenty four% |
| 2.5-inch notebook PC + CE | Ten million | 24.925 million | -33% |
Nearline HDDs have been the workhorse of hard drive manufacturers for some time due to the consistent increase in capacity per drive. However, in Q1 2023, only 10.2 million drives shipped, up from 18.8 million in Q1 2022 and 10.51 million in Q4 2022. (YoY) and 1% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ).
Seagate believes near-line HDD shipments will increase in the future as consumers (i.e. exascalers) expect their business to thrive.
Seagate Chief Financial Officer Gianluca Romano said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference: Seeking Alpha). “I think they’re very confident that the business will grow because they’ve had to manage the short-term downcycle and hopefully there won’t be this inventory build-up. I don’t see anything, it changes in the long term.”
As far as PC and CE oriented drives are concerned, their shipments totaled 23.3 million to 24.7 million units, a decrease of 24% to 33% depending on the exact segment. Segmented 2.5-inch HDDs recorded an even more significant year-on-year decline of 33%. This wasn’t particularly surprising as the decline indicates a continuing trend of declining PC and CE market share for hard drives.
Seagate Retains Top Position
As far as individual vendor shipments are concerned, Seagate sold an estimated 15-15.5 million hard drives, holding a market share of around 44.8%. storage newsletter I’m quoting Trendfocus figures.
| supplier | HDD unit | Q/Q change | year-on-year | market share |
| seagate | 15 million to 15.5 million | -2.3% — -1% | -34.7% — -32.6% | 44.8% — 44.4% |
| Toshiba | 6.3 million to 6.7 million | -21.4% — -16.5% | -37.2% — -33.2% | 18.8% — 9.2% |
| WDC | 12.2 million to 12.7 million | -5.4% — -1.5% | -38.2% — -35.6% | 36.4% — 36.4% |
| total | 33.5 million to 34.9 million | -7.6% — -3.8% | -36.5 — -33.9% | 100% |
Western Digital reportedly supplies about 12.2 million to 12.7 million HDDs, accounting for about 36.4% share. Toshiba remained in third place with an estimated shipment of 6.3 million to 6.7 million units from him, with a market share of around 19%.
