WD Is Already Out Of HDD Storage Production For All Of 2026 And You Know Why

The current component shortage the technology industry finds itself in, driven by the insatiable appetite of enormous AI data centers, started out with memory but has quickly spread to other components including GPUs and solid-state storage. The carnage continues to spread as Western Digital has shared that its spinning platter hard drives are also going to get harder to come by.

The company’s CEO, Irving Tan, informed investors during its Q2 earnings call that it has sold through its 2026 supply. He says that “we’re pretty much sold out for calendar 2026. We have firm POs with our top seven customers.” Additionally, two of these customers have apparently signed long-term agreements with Western Digital to secure hard drives going into 2027 and 2028.


This demand by AI providers has led to 89% of the company’s revenue coming from its enterprise business, according to its Vice President of Investor Relations, Ambrish Srivastava. Meanwhile, WD's consumer-facing business only accounted for 5% of revenue. This kind of imbalance means it will likely focus further on the enterprise side and could potentially mean it decides to go the way of Micron and abandon the consumer side altogether.

Most client users have moved on from using hard drives in their PCs, but this is terrible news for those who need the bulk storage that’s only possible with hard drives. Many enjoy running Plex servers, which are used to stream personal media and can serve as a replacement or supplement to commercial streaming services. Storing shows, movies, and music quickly adds up, and Plex users often have setups with several terabytes worth of storage. This option might become cost-prohibitive, or maybe even impossible, if the hard drive situation continues to get worse.

Here’s hoping the ongoing component supply shortage manages to stabilize itself sooner rather than later.