AI, Security and Scale: Why HDD is Back in the Spotlight

By Mats Larsson, Research Consultant, Futuresource Consulting

During recent years, hard disk drives (HDDs) have lived under the combined shadow of solid-state drives (SSDs) and the cloud. But that’s all changing, as a new wave of demand is altering the picture. Artificial intelligence, surveillance, and the rising importance of data security are all pushing HDDs back into the centre of the storage story.

Our latest Q2 2025 Worldwide HDD Channel Market Tracker shows that, while overall channel shipments dipped, the real action is happening in enterprise and surveillance. These are two areas where HDD isn’t just relevant. It’s essential.

Enterprise growth meets AI acceleration
Enterprises are doubling down on HDDs, and AI is the catalyst. AI workloads create vast, constantly expanding data lakes. Meanwhile, AI training and inference models depend on cheap, scalable storage, which is something only HDD can deliver at the right cost per terabyte.

As a result, vendors are responding by pushing capacity higher, preparing the ground for HAMR (Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording) drives to roll out from 2026. For the next several years, we expect this enterprise boom to redefine the market, cementing HDD’s role at the heart of cloud and AI infrastructure.

Surveillance keeps on scaling
Surveillance is another sector where HDD is leading. With higher-resolution cameras, longer data retention periods, and AI analytics now standard, surveillance storage demands are climbing sharply. HDD continues to account for around 90% of deployments in this space, thanks to its balance of cost, endurance and reliability.

The trend is global. From China’s rapid urbanisation to European infrastructure projects, surveillance remains overwhelmingly HDD-led, and it’s a segment where demand will only intensify.

Hybrid cloud and data sovereignty
Security concerns are also reshaping infrastructure choices. Many enterprises are starting to pull certain workloads back on-premise, or they’re adopting hybrid cloud models that give them more control over sensitive data. With the growing ability to AI to harvest data and extract insights makes the task of security even more essential.

That shift plays directly to HDD’s strengths. NAS and enterprise drives remain the backbone of these hybrid environments, providing trusted, high-capacity storage that businesses can manage locally while still leveraging cloud services for scale.

From decline to reinvention
Consumer-facing HDD categories may continue to weaken as SSDs replace them for personal use. But the outlook for HDD as a whole remains strong.

The HDD industry is moving its centre of gravity away from consumer storage and into enterprise, surveillance and hybrid solutions. Here, HDD isn’t competing head-to-head with SSD. It’s powering a different part of the ecosystem, one that depends on affordable, scalable capacity to keep the data-driven world turning.

The next chapter
The HDD story is shifting. No longer the default for home storage, it is becoming the enabler of AI growth, the backbone of surveillance, and the safeguard for the enterprises rethinking security.

This is a comeback tour, powered by AI, cloud and the simple truth that no other medium delivers cost-effective scale like HDD. For vendors, investors and channel partners alike, the message is clear: the opportunities lie not in chasing consumer segments, but in aligning with enterprise and security-driven demand. That’s where the next chapter of the HDD story will be written.

The Worldwide HDD Market Tracker: Q2 2025 Channel Market Summary provides analysis across internal and external HDD categories, with insights by vendor, region and segment. To learn more about the quarterly tracking service or to purchase the report, please contact imad.sarwar@futuresource-hq.com.