- Western Digital CEO says its HDD capacity for 2026 is already fully booked
- Business customers dominate orders, leaving consumer products at just five percent of revenue
- AI-driven data growth intensifies pressure on HDD supply chains globally
Western Digital has revealed that the entire HDD capacity for 2026 is apparently already fully booked, primarily due to enterprise-level deals with hyperscalers and major cloud providers.
The increase in demand is linked to the ongoing expansion of data centers, particularly in the US, where large amounts of content must be stored efficiently.
HDDs remain the most cost-effective solution for storing exabytes of data, including scraped web content, processed backups, and inference logs needed for AI workloads.
Western Digital locks in multi-year agreements
“As we highlighted, we are largely sold out for calendar 2026. We have firm POs with our top seven customers,” Western Digital CEO Irving Tan declared during the company’s latest financial results.
“And we’ve also established LTAs with two of them for calendar 2027 and one of them for calendar 2028. Obviously, these LTAs have a combination of exabyte volume and price.”
As AI adoption grows, the strain on suppliers is intensifying, echoing similar pressures previously seen with DRAM, NAND and other critical PC components.
The majority of Western Digital’s orders come from cloud storage providers that rely on HDDs for long-term storage of massive data sets.
Consumer products now account for only 5% of their revenue, while cloud-oriented business contributes nearly 89%.
The lack of available HDDs has implications for pricing as demand outstrips supply and production schedules cannot quickly match the demands of hyperscalers.
Historically, shortages of core components like RAM and SSDs have translated into temporary price increases, and the current situation with hard drives seems to follow a similar pattern.
Manufacturing constraints and the pace of AI-driven data center expansion are creating a scenario where companies may face higher costs for the storage capacity they need.
Analysts note that while HDDs remain cheaper per terabytes than RAM or other memory solutions, tight availability can still put upward pressure on procurement budgets.
Western Digital’s focus on enterprise contracts reflects the broader trend in the PC and storage industry to pivot toward AI workloads.
Hyperscalers, cloud storage providers and large-scale computing operations are increasingly the main consumers of high-capacity drives, while traditional desktop and consumer segments are downgraded.
The company has adapted production to meet these demands, leaving the consumer market with limited options.
While HDD technology itself is mature, the combination of artificial intelligence-driven demand, supply chain constraints and ongoing cloud expansion means that capacity remains limited.
It is now certain that companies drive the HDD market dynamics and price fluctuations look set to continue.
Via Wccftech
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
