Western Digital has warned that its hard disk drive production capacity for 2026 is already largely allocated, indicating that storage components could face supply constraints alongside ongoing memory shortages across the technology industry.
The company disclosed in its latest quarterly report that most of its HDD manufacturing output for 2026 has been booked, with major cloud providers securing large volumes and in some cases extending commitments through 2028.
Industry demand linked to artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to reshape semiconductor and storage allocation, as hyperscale data centres expand capacity to support large language models and generative AI systems.
Training and operating AI systems require storing vast datasets measured in exabytes rather than terabytes, and traditional HDDs remain central to that equation because the cost per gigabyte remains lower than comparable solid-state drives.
While SSDs deliver faster read and write speeds, hyperscalers often prioritise capacity and long-term storage economics, which sustains demand for high-capacity enterprise hard drives in large-scale server environments.
Western Digital indicated that its seven largest customers have placed binding orders, limiting the availability of future output for other buyers and reducing flexibility across the broader distribution chain.
Long-term supply agreements extending into 2027 and 2028 suggest that a significant portion of manufacturing capacity will continue flowing directly to hyperscale operators rather than consumer retail channels.
The consumer storage segment now represents a smaller share of overall HDD demand, which increases the risk that retail inventory could tighten if enterprise customers absorb the majority of available supply.
Component shortages have already pushed RAM prices higher in recent quarters, and constrained HDD output could introduce additional cost pressure across PCs, external drives, and small business storage systems.
Western Digital has not announced specific retail price changes, but forward allocation patterns indicate that storage supply will remain closely tied to data centre expansion through at least 2026.
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