Seagate Says Hard Drive Shortage Will Continue Through 2012
Seagate this week reported financial results for the quarter ended December 30, 2011, in which the company said it shipped 47 million disk drives and collected $3.2 billion in revenue. For the six months ended on the same day, Seagate says it collected revenue of $6 billion and returned $151 million to shareholders in the form of a dividend. Not too shabby when you consider severe floods in Thailand left the hard drive industry in shambles. Unfortunately for Joe Consumer, relief is hardly in sight.
In a supplementary note (PDF) discussing its quarterly results, Seagate warned that the impact of the floods on the hard drive industry will be felt throughout the entire year.
"Seagate believes that while the industry's ability to supply drives is slowly improving, demand will continue to exceed supply during calendar year 2012," Seagate said.
According to Seagate, the entire HDD industry produced 105-110 million hard drives during the December 2011 quarter and shipped 119 million units, falling way short of unconstrained demand estimated at around 175 million.
In a supplementary note (PDF) discussing its quarterly results, Seagate warned that the impact of the floods on the hard drive industry will be felt throughout the entire year.
"Seagate believes that while the industry's ability to supply drives is slowly improving, demand will continue to exceed supply during calendar year 2012," Seagate said.
According to Seagate, the entire HDD industry produced 105-110 million hard drives during the December 2011 quarter and shipped 119 million units, falling way short of unconstrained demand estimated at around 175 million.
