AI boom sparks next wave of cloud storage expansion, says new study

A recent global survey by Recon Analytics, commissioned by Seagate Technology, paints an interesting picture of the future of AI and data storage.

Business leaders from 15 industries in 10 countries are bracing for an explosion of data as AI adoption grows, with many expecting cloud-based storage forming the centre of data repositories in the future.

Why cloud storage? It’s cost-effective, especially with hard drives offering scalability at competitive terabyte-per-dollar efficiencies. IDC estimates that 89% of data stored by leading cloud service providers is kept on hard drives.

According to the survey, almost two-thirds (61%) of companies using cloud as their primary storage method anticipate their cloud storage needs to more than double in the next three years. Singapore businesses, while slightly more conservative, also project significant growth, with 53% expecting similar storage expansions.

Roger Entner, founder and lead analyst of Recon Analytics, summed it up well: “The survey results generally point to a coming surge in demand for data storage, with hard drives emerging as the clear winner. When you consider that the business leaders we surveyed intend to store more of this AI-driven data in the cloud, it appears that cloud services are well-positioned to ride a second growth wave.”

Some key takeaways

• AI adoption is widespread but varies by region – 62% of Singapore businesses say they use AI today, compared to 72% globally.
• Among cloud storage users, 53% in Singapore predict a 100%+ growth in storage needs over the next three years, slightly trailing the global average of 61%.
• Globally, storage is the second most important component for AI infrastructure, coming in just behind security. The full ranking includes: Security, storage, data management, network capacity, compute, regulations, LLM viability, and energy.
• Retaining data for longer is seen as important for better AI outcomes – 85% of Singapore businesses and 90% globally agree.
• Trustworthy AI is a priority, with 88% of AI users recognising the need to store more data for extended periods to achieve it.

The findings highlight a trend: organisations are holding onto their data for longer to ensure it’s reliable enough for training AI models. Accurate results and better outcomes depend on this, and it’s fueling the need for innovative storage solutions.

BS Teh, Seagate’s chief commercial officer, weighed in: “Trustworthy AI is really the key to enabling mainstream adoption of AI. With the vast majority of survey respondents saying they need to store data for longer periods of time to improve quality outcomes of AI, we’re focused on [the] real density innovation needed to increase storage capacity for each platter in our HAMR-based hard drives. We have a clear pathway to more than double per-platter storage capacity over the next few years.”

As AI continues to evolve, one thing is clear: businesses will need smarter, more efficient ways to store the enormous amounts of data it brings.

(Image by Pixabay)

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