Global PC storage device shipments total 248.8M units in Q2 2011 with a Y-o-Y increase of 5.6% (from 235.5M units in Q2 2010), according to IHS iSuppli.
Contrary to analyst expectations, the earthquake disaster in Japan last March stimulated the storage market-- with OEMs accelerating orders and increasing inventory to ensure adequate supply.
The analyst divides the PC storage market in 3 segments-- HDDs (hard drives), ODDs (optical disc drives) and SSDs (solid state drives).
The HDD segment is the largest, total-wise, with shipments reaching 167.7M units (a Q-o-Q increase of 4.2%). However iSuppli says the HDD industry faces declining profits (particularly by the two major HDD players, Seagate and Western Digital) due to higher competition, elevated R&D costs and mounting costs for materials such as rare-earth metals.
ODD shipments rise by 4.4% Q-o-Q to reach 78.3M units-- but revenues remain flat due to declining prices. Some PC makers are also abandoning optical drives in certain machines, such as ultra-thin laptops.
The SSD segment shows most growth, with shipments reaching 3.4M units with 21.4% Q-o-Q growth as NAND caching technology from Intel makes its consumer market debut.
The analyst believes SSDs "are experiencing teething pains," with a supplier base thinning necessary for the market to achieve more sustainable dynamics with healthy revenues and margins.