Dublin, Jan. 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Hard Disk Drive (HDD) - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2026-2031)" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The global Hard Disk Drive (HDD) market is expected to grow from USD 51.82 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 69.74 billion by 2031, reflecting a 6.12% CAGR. The growth is fueled by the cost-per-terabyte advantages and HAMR-driven capacity roadmaps, targeting beyond 100 TB. The surge in AI-generated cold data maintains hard drives as a key component in hyperscale storage strategies.
Cloud providers are anticipated to allocate about 15-20% of their record USD 315 billion 2025 capital budgets to storage infrastructures, supporting the HDD market growth, especially in power-limited data-center markets. Despite SATA's extensive installed base, SAS and NVMe interfaces are gaining traction for higher bandwidth applications. With three suppliers dominating, market disruptions due to trade issues or natural disasters can rapidly impact supply chains.
Global HDD Market Trends and Insights:
- Hyperscale and Cloud Storage Demand Increase: The hyperscale data-center count reached 1,136 by the end of 2024 and is expected to triple by 2030 with AI accelerators redefining computing needs. Western Digital forecasts a 23% growth in HDD exabyte shipments from 2024 to 2028 due to HAMR-driven density improvements. The U.S. dominates with 54% of installed hyperscale capacity, benefiting drives that offer superior watts-per-terabyte performance.
- Cost/TB Competitiveness Over SSDs: Seagate achieved USD 15 per terabyte in 2024, maintaining a 2.5 cost benefit over enterprise SSDs. HDD's affordability and efficiency in cold-data tiers against the growing SSD options indicate continued market favorability. Hybrid strategies integrating SSD and HDD tiers optimize expenditure and performance objectives.
- SSD Performance and Cost Improvements: Flash vendors are producing 232-layer 3D NAND, achieving lower costs. The introduction of 61.44 TB SSDs marks capacity expansion, although at premium costs. QLC NAND offers lower cost prospects; however, endurance issues constrain usage to read-heavy workloads. HDDs will need to increase capacity swiftly as the price gap with flash narrows.
Other Market Drivers:
- Growth in video-surveillance data supporting smart-city initiatives
- AI-driven cold-data tiering trends
- Significant supplier concentration and potential supply-chain disruptions
Segment Analysis
In 2025, 3.5-inch drives contributed 65.62% of revenue, projected to grow at a 9.29% CAGR till 2031. These units support superior capacity-per-rack metrics crucial for hyperscale operators. The segment is expected to surpass USD 45.2 billion by 2031. HAMR and UltraSMR technology enhance capacity capabilities to an anticipated 40 TB. Smaller 2.5-inch drives cater to portable devices but face competitive pressures from SSDs, limiting expansion.
Near-line enterprise deployments accounted for 44.10% of 2025 shipments, growing at a 9.52% CAGR. Cloud architectures increasingly rely on HDDs for cost-effective, high-density tiers due to scalability and economic storage solutions. This trend aligns with the expected expansion of AI training sets.
Despite the shift to SSDs in consumer desktops and gaming PCs, surveillance systems and NAS devices continue to uphold demand for magnetic media due to suitable write patterns and large storage needs. Enterprise data centers are adopting hybrid models where SSD and HDD technologies coexist, but near-line storage reports the highest exabyte growth forecast this decade.
Geography Analysis
Asia-Pacific led with 36.10% global revenue share in 2025 and projects a 6.84% CAGR through 2031. China and Japan lead regional demand through hyperscale expansion, with Thailand serving as a major manufacturing hub. North American growth is driven by U.S. hyperscale operators. Europe remains stable, driven by compliance requirements and sustainability initiatives.
Key Topics Covered
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Study Assumptions and Market Definition
1.2 Scope of the Study
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4 MARKET LANDSCAPE
4.1 Market Overview
4.2 Market Drivers
4.3 Market Restraints
4.4 Value / Supply-Chain Analysis
4.5 Regulatory Landscape
4.6 Technological Outlook
4.7 Porter's Five Forces Analysis
4.8 Macroeconomic Impact Assessment
5 MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH FORECASTS (VALUE)
5.1 By Form Factor
5.2 By Application
5.3 By Storage Capacity
5.4 By Interface
5.5 By End-User Industry
5.6 By Recording Technology
5.7 By Geography
6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
6.1 Market Concentration
6.2 Strategic Moves
6.3 Market Share Analysis
6.4 Company Profiles
7 Market Opportunities & Future Outlook
7.1 White-space & Unmet-need Assessment
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
- Western Digital Corporation
- Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company
- Dell Technologies Inc.
- Lenovo Group Limited
- Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Transcend Information Inc.
- ADATA Technology Co., Ltd.
- Buffalo Inc.
- Nidec Corporation
- Showa Denko K.K.
- Hoya Corporation
- NetApp Inc.
- Pure Storage Inc.
- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (external HDD brand)
- Micron Technology Inc. (external storage systems)
- Violin Systems LLC
- Synology Inc.
- QNAP Systems Inc.
- LaCie S.A.S. (Seagate brand)
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/yzsi4e
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