The Trendline Doesn't Look Good For Hard Disk Drives
The Register, Friday, June 13th, 2025
Sales of HDDs to non-hyperscale outfits increasingly rare, say analysts
In early May, independent digital storage analyst Thomas Coughlin shared news of falling sales and revenue in the first quarter of 2025, continuing a trend that started in around 2010. Coughlin cites data from that year showing around 600 million annual hard disk shipments.
In 2025 he thinks around 150 million units will make it out of factory doors.
Hyperscale datacenter operators will buy most of them and have become HDD manufacturers' largest customers. The Register understands cloud and social media outfits order giant batches of HDDs and that diskmakers tailor products to their needs.