Katarzyna Petru
The storage market has just received another warning signal. Western Digital has acknowledged that its production capacities for 2026 are already fully contracted. Huge demand from companies developing AI infrastructure means that even traditional hard drives are no longer a "safe haven" in terms of pricing. This indicates that the issue of shortages no longer pertains solely to RAM or SSDs. Individual customers are starting to take a back seat. And prices? The pressure continues to grow.
Production sold out a year in advance
The President of Western Digital, Irving Tan, during the financial results presentation confirmed that the company has practically sold all its production for 2026. The largest clients have contracted huge volumes of data, and some have secured supplies even for 2027 and 2028 under long-term contracts. The effect is simple: retail no longer plays a key role. The consumer segment accounts for only about 5 per cent of the company's revenue today. When data centres buy everything "off the shelf", shops and ordinary users are not a priority.
AI takes over supply chains
The boom in artificial intelligence is driving not only the sales of graphics cards and memory. AI models require vast storage spaces, which means massive purchases of HDDs for data centres. In practice, AI infrastructure "consumes" available components, affecting prices across the entire IT sector. The industry expected that traditional hard disk drives would remain price-stable as an older generation technology. The opposite has happened. Increased demand from hyperscalers has meant that even this segment has come under pressure.
Buy now or wait?
For the individual user, the situation is uncomfortable. Either you accept the current prices, or you hope for improvement in the future. The problem is that there is no indication of a swift slowdown in AI investments. If the trend continues, price pressure may persist even in 2027.
One thing is certain: producers have guaranteed sales for years to come. And as long as large corporations reserve every available terabyte, the purchasing decisions of ordinary customers will be of marginal significance.
Source: Western Digital / Spider’s Web
