Western Digital's disk maker reports a loss for Q2

San Jose (CA) – Komag, which was recently announced to be acquired by Western Digital for $1 billion, reported a 20% decrease in revenues and a loss for the second quarter of this year.

The disk maker announced revenues of 187.2 million and a loss of $21.0 million, compared to revenues of $233.6 million and a profit of $40.3 million for the second quarter of 2006. The company said that market pressure on unit volumes and average selling prices were the main reason for the decline in revenues, but Komag also noted that a high cost of the initial ramp of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) products had a negative impact on the operating result.

The manufacturer said it shipped 25.8 million disks in Q2. 40% of all disks went to Western Digital, 34% to Seagate and 18% to Hitachi GST. 55% of all disks manufactured were disks with a capacity of at least 160 GB, aiming for a use in hard drives for high capacity desktop and multi-platter consumer applications such as personal video recorders (PVRs), digital video recorders (DVRs), high definition television (HDTV), external storage, gaming and other home entertainment devices.

Western Digital expects to complete the acquisition of Komag within the current quarter.