El Segundo, CA - The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) industry underwent a resurgence in profitability in the third quarter, signaling that the market is finally is on firmer ground, according to iSuppli Corp.

iSuppli reports that the HDD industry shipped 138 million drives in the third quarter of 2007, up 19.6 percent from the second quarter, according to iSuppli. Combined third-quarter revenue for all HDD suppliers was $8.8 billion, up 22.2 percent from the second quarter.

"The HDD industry as a whole returned to profitability in the third quarter, marking the first time the business has been in the black since December 2006," said Krishna Chander, senior analyst at iSuppli.

"The revival of HDD profits is being driven partly by the consumer-electronics market," Chander said. "Shipments to consumer-electronics applications represented 17 percent of the total HDD market in the third quarter, up from 15.5 percent in the second quarter. iSuppli expects this trend to continue to grow to 22 percent by the third quarter of 2008. The rising adoption of High Definition Television (HDTV) is spurring demand for higher-capacity HDDs for Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), helping to propel consumer electronics sales."

iSuppli predicts conditions in the HDD market will remain robust in the fourth quarter, with shipments rising 6.9 percent to 147 million units.

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