Toshiba to double HDD production capacity amid devastating shortages — 65TB, 100TB drives on the roadmap for 2030 and beyond
Toshiba reiterates plans to release 30TB-class HDDs, double HDD production capacity in Philippines in in 2027.
Toshiba has spent approximately ¥60 billion ($380 million) to expand its hard drive assembly capacity in the Philippines, doubling its production capacity for nearline HDDs in fiscal 2027 compared to fiscal 2025, reports Nikkei. The capacity expansion coincides with Toshiba's plans to launch next-generation 30TB-class hard disk drives in 2027 and will prepare the company for 65TB-class HDDs by 2030 and 100TB-class drives in the future.
As part of the expansion, Toshiba has installed additional manufacturing lines at its Philippine Laguna Technopark (LTI) facility to build nearline hard drives and prepare it to produce next-generation HDDs that increase storage capacity per drive by as much as 40%. The 40% claim clearly points to the company's next-generation M12-series hard drives that rely on microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) technology, use up to 11 platters, and offer capacities of over 30TB.
Meanwhile, as the new product lines have already been installed and the first shipments from them have been made (meaning that the new production lines are at least partly qualified), the ramp of next-generation drives can start anytime.
In addition, the company plans to introduce more automation in its cleanroom operations and drive inspection, measures aimed at improving manufacturing yields amid increased output. The new automation will also reduce the requirement for additional employees by 40%.
The project represents the company's first substantial HDD manufacturing investment in around five years and comes as demand for nearline drives is skyrocketing. So far, both Seagate and Western Digital have enjoyed strong demand for 30TB and 40TB-class HDDs from the AI sector. While Toshiba is lagging with 24TB CMR and 28TB SMR hard drives, it has also sold out every single unit it has produced in recent quarters. Arguably, all three HDD makers are late to expand their production capacity.
Meanwhile, the expansion is only one step in Toshiba's longer-term HDD roadmap. The company recently reiterated plans to introduce its 40TB-class HDDs with up to 12 disks inside in 2027, so the expansion will be instrumental for the ramp of these products as well. Yet, it remains to be seen whether the company will at least formally introduce its 12-platter 40TB-class models in calendar year 2027, as next year seems to be dedicated to the ramp of the company's 30TB-class M12-series of HDDs.
The company intends to continue investing in manufacturing capabilities to begin volume production of 65TB-class HDDs around 2030, followed eventually by 100TB-class drives, according to the report. These products will address growing storage requirements in AI and other large-scale data centers. Toshiba also expects the new production lines and next-generation HDDs to help it increase its market share from around 10% today, measured by exabytes shipped, to 30% in the 'medium term,' according to the report.
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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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Ralston18 I am just wondering what will happen when the general user market decides that larger and larger capacity drives are no longer really needed.Reply
Personal use - not business or commerical.
Especially as costs go up.
Data hoarders may need such large drives.
I do not. -
Misgar I've never been anywhere near leading edge drive technology (20 to 30TB) let alone bleeding edge HAMR 30 to 44TB.Reply
As things move on, I might be able to replace my collection of 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8TB drives with something larger.
Or then again, maybe not if prices don't come down. An 8-disk RAID-Z2 array of 16TB drives is more than I can afford. -
MicroSlop Reply
You don't matter, all tech businesses are selling products geared towards huge data centers not consumers, we just get whatever scraps that don't sell to them at a premium until it goes awall and they start making consumer grade stuff again hoping we forgot the fact that they completely abandoned our market, which will end up happening anyway.Ralston18 said:I am just wondering what will happen when the general user market decides that larger and larger capacity drives are no longer really needed.
Personal use - not business or commerical.
Especially as costs go up.
Data hoarders may need such large drives.
I do not. -
thestryker I'm surprised they're able to increase capacity so much as I was under the impression that production was more limited by third party parts than internal. Perhaps component changes for HAMR have allowed this expansion.Reply
I do wonder how much longer the client segment will really exist. Going by the last Backblaze report everything below 12TB is on the way out and 12TB is likely up next. Since enterprise is the highest volume I'm not sure how much platter overlap there will be as capacity scales up there. I can't imagine most consumers were buying even 16TB drives when they were decently priced ~$280-300.