As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionise industries worldwide, a new survey by Recon Analytics, commissioned by Seagate Technology, reveals an emerging challenge: an unprecedented explosion in data volumes. With over 60% of businesses anticipating their cloud-based storage needs to double in the next three years, it’s clear that cloud storage solutions—and the hard drives powering them—are poised to play a critical role in this data-driven future.

Why It Matters

The adoption of AI applications is generating vast amounts of data, and this growth is reshaping business priorities globally. While Singapore lags behind the global average in AI adoption (62% vs 72%), the trend remains the same – data storage is becoming an integral part of AI infrastructure. Notably, 88% of businesses agree that trustworthy AI requires retaining data for longer periods to improve the quality of outcomes.

“Trustworthy AI is really the key to enabling mainstream adoption of AI,” said BS Teh, Chief Commercial Officer of Seagate. “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 areal density innovation needed to increase storage capacity for each platter in our HAMR-based hard drives.”

The Cloud’s Growing Dominance

According to the survey:

• 61% of global respondents relying on cloud storage anticipate a 100% growth in their storage needs over the next three years. In Singapore, the figure is slightly lower at 53%.
• Cloud service providers already store 89% of their data on hard drives, thanks to their scalability and cost efficiency.

This boom underscores a pivotal trend: cloud services are well-positioned to lead the next wave of AI growth. As Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, puts it, “The survey results generally point to a coming surge in demand for data storage, with hard drives emerging as the clear winner.”

Security Takes Centre Stage

When ranking the most important components of AI infrastructure, businesses globally identified security as the top priority, followed by storage and data management. This highlights a dual focus on protecting sensitive data and ensuring sufficient capacity to meet AI demands.

The Road Ahead

For AI to truly become a transformative force, its accuracy and reliability must improve. This hinges on organisations’ ability to retain and manage data over longer periods. Seagate’s innovation in hard drive storage technology, such as its HAMR-based drives, promises to address this demand by more than doubling per-platter storage capacity in the coming years.