Feb 16, 2026 11:00:00

Western Digital reveals that its 2026 supply of HDDs is nearly sold out, with consumer product sales accounting for just 5% of total sales due to explosive AI demand

Western Digital , a manufacturer and seller of storage devices such as HDDs and flash memory, has revealed that its 2026 supply of HDDs has almost sold out. This is due to demand for AI, but as a result, consumer products account for just 5% of Western Digital's sales.

Western Digital runs out of HDD capacity: CEO says massive AI deals secured, price surges ahead
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/110168/western-digital-runs-out-of-hdd-capacity-ceo-says-massive-ai-deals-secured-price-surges-ahead/index.html

High demand due to the construction boom of AI data centers has led to memory shortages that have sent manufacturers into a panic , while the impact has also spread to hard disk drives, causing enterprise product inventories to run out and delivery times to be delayed by two years.

AI data center HDD shortage leads to two-year backorder situation, forcing rapid transition to QLC SSD due to delays - GIGAZINE

Meanwhile, Western Digital announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 (October to December 2025) on January 29, 2026. It announced that sales increased 25% year-on-year to $3.017 billion (approximately ¥460 billion), with a gross profit margin of 45.7% and an operating profit margin of 30.1%. The increase in sales during the same period was largely due to increased demand for large-capacity HDDs driven by AI.

Western Digital Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results | WD
https://www.westerndigital.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2026-01-29-western-digital-reports-fiscal-second-quarter-2026-financial-results

During the earnings call, Western Digital CEO Irving Tan said, 'As I've emphasized, our 2026 HDD supply is nearly sold out. We have firm purchase orders signed with seven major customers. We have also signed long-term framework agreements with two of them for 2027 and one for 2028. Needless to say, these contracts are for exabyte capacity and price combinations.'

According to Western Digital's vice president of investor relations, the company's cloud revenue now accounts for 89% of its total revenue, while consumer product revenue has fallen to just 5%.