Hard disk drive (HDD) sales are booming, with over 50% growth in the last year and a trend that continues to rise. After years in which Solid State Drives (SSD) gained ground for their speed and efficiency, HDDs have once again captured attention, largely thanks to the increasing demand in data centers, where their capacity and cost per terabyte remain advantageous compared to SSDs.
Seagate and Western Digital lead the growth
Seagate, one of the largest HDD manufacturers, has seen a 55% increase in its revenues from hard disk drive sales in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 compared to the same period in 2023. Year-over-year, the company reached revenues of almost $2 billion, compared to $1.3 billion last year. As for the average selling price (ASP), it has risen from $108 to $154 per unit, largely driven by the market preference for higher capacity drives.
Western Digital’s situation is equally promising. During the same period, the company increased its revenues from $1.2 billion to $2.208 billion, representing an 85% growth. Additionally, Western Digital has improved its gross profit margin, increasing from 22.9% to a notable 38.1%. In terms of unit sales, WD distributed 13.2 million hard drives, a 27% increase from the previous year, with an ASP that has increased from $112 to $164.
Data centers and AI applications drive HDD demand
Hard disk drives are finding a new life in the realm of data centers, where massive and cost-effective storage is essential. The expansion of cloud services and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) have increased the demand for low-cost per terabyte storage, an area where HDDs remain irreplaceable. Although SSDs have made significant strides in speed and capacity, HDDs offer a lower-cost alternative in large volumes, something crucial in infrastructures like server farms.
In this context, the data center sector represents a growth niche in which HDDs are experiencing a strong resurgence. According to IEEE projections, demand for hard disk drives is expected to remain strong in the coming years, driven by AI applications and the growing volume of data stored in the cloud.
Key factors for the resurgence of HDDs
This resurgence of hard disk drives is partially due to differentiation in price/capacity compared to SSDs. While SSDs have reached a competitive price-to-capacity ratio in capacities up to 2 TB, HDDs offer a substantial advantage in higher capacity units, something demanded by the enterprise sector. Thus, 4TB, 8TB, or even larger HDDs remain more cost-effective than their SSD counterparts, a difference that is crucial in high storage requirement environments.
The future of the HDD market according to IEEE
IEEE projections indicate that the HDD market will continue to grow in the coming years, as long as manufacturers can fulfill their plans to expand disk capacities and further reduce cost per terabyte. This growth will also depend on how the SSD market evolves in terms of price and capacity, especially if solid state drives can compete in price with HDDs in the high-capacity range.
Competition in the storage market is expected to be intense in the coming years, but hard disk drives have proven that they still have a relevant place in the digital age, especially in sectors where massive and cost-effective storage is essential.
Source: El chapuzas informático and Computer Base