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Hard drive maker says it’s nearly sold out for 2026
- This year, Western Digital disclosed during its latest quarterly earnings call that calendar 2026 is effectively fully booked, and supply pressures now affect hard disk drives, CEO Irving Tan said.
- AI data-center providers are pre-purchasing HDDs years ahead, with most 2026 production allocated to seven top clients as Western Digital focuses on magnetic drives.
- Purchase records indicate cloud clients make about 89% of revenue, regular consumers 5%, and customers pre-purchased several exabytes of capacity including top-seven client orders.
- Consumers face limited access to WD hard drives as manufacturers prioritize AI clients, which analysts warn could raise PC prices by at least 15% and smartphone prices by about 10% this year.
- WD is ramping production of high-capacity HDDs and has signed long-term agreements with two customers for 2027 and one for 2028; CFO Kris Sennesael expects demand to keep rising soon.
35 Articles
35 Articles
It Seems Like the AI Apocalypse Has Come for Hard Drives
PC gaming has been off to a rough start in 2026, with both RAM and graphics cards facing massive stock issues, due to demand from AI datacenters. It looks like hard drives are next. Both Seagate and Western Digital, two of the biggest hard drive manufacturers, have told investors that stock is completely sold out through 2027, according to a report from German outlet Heise. As a result, hard drives are starting to see increased prices. For insta…
AI Data Centers Are Now Spiking Hard Drive Prices
Over the last couple of months, the AI industry’s obsession with building out costly data centers has sent the price of RAM skyrocketing, turning a simple computer upgrade into a costly investment. And while there are some early glimmers of hope, with RAM prices now falling across the pond, the next AI price hike could affect a different component instead: hard drives. During a recent company earnings call, Irving Tan, the CEO of hard drive manu…
More than ten months remain before the end of the year and there are no hard drives available.So crude is the panorama that has left the insatiable demand of the artificial intelligence industry, which is devouring electronic components at an unprecedented pace and leaving the domestic consumer as a residual actor in the global supply chain.The CEO of Western Digital, Irving Tan, confirmed during the presentation of the company's second fiscal q…
Hard drive maker says it’s nearly sold out for 2026
It may become harder and more expensive to find certain hard drives this year.Western Digital CEO Irving Tan said the company is already pretty much" sold out of its hard disk drive capacity for 2026, citing strong demand tied to artificial intelligence.Tan made the comments during the companys quarterly earnings call, where he also reported revenue of $3.02 billion, up 25% from a year earlier. He attributed the growth to demand from what he cal…
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