WD Customer Survey Reveals Growing Focus on Scalability, Cost-Efficiency, and Reliability in AI Infrastructure Planning
A survey conducted by Western Digital in 2026 of 200 key global customers revealed that capacity expansion, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) optimization, reliability, and highly scalable HDD-based tiered storage are being prioritized in AI infrastructure planning.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 21, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 21, 2026 at 09:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 21, 2026 at 09:57 (25 min after Collected)
As AI evolves into continuous, production-scale data systems, managing surging data storage requirements has become a challenge of equal importance to compute performance. The latest cross-sectional survey conducted by Western Digital (Nasdaq: WDC, hereinafter "WD") targeting major global customers and distributors revealed various market insights. Most notably, it showed that enterprises are prioritizing infrastructure with proven reliability, predictable economics, and long-term data scalability.
The survey results confirm structural shifts in AI infrastructure. While compute resources are reused within training and inference cycles, data generated by AI—including training datasets, inference logs, embeddings, and outputs—continues to accumulate. As companies transition from the experimental stage to production-level AI deployment, infrastructure decisions are increasingly driven by long-term data retention and operational economics. Consequently, storage demand is compounding independently of short-term compute cycles.
Key Survey Findings
Growing Support for Proven Infrastructure: As AI deployment scales, companies are placing greater emphasis on infrastructure with a track record of operational success.
- 66% of respondents reported prioritizing infrastructure that delivers "consistent reliability" and "predictable performance at scale," while deprioritizing or considering deprioritizing the adoption of new technologies.
Reliability and AI Workload Support as Top Infrastructure Priorities: With the expansion of AI, infrastructure is shifting toward a throughput-oriented model to continuously support large-scale data movement. This approach values reliability, consistency, and efficiency over low latency to minimize operational overhead.
- 69% of respondents identified support for AI training and inference workloads as a priority.
- 69% identified improving reliability and availability as a priority.
- The percentage of respondents prioritizing latency optimization (7%) was lower than those prioritizing scalability, reliability, and operational efficiency.
Capacity Expansion and Cost Efficiency Drive Infrastructure Planning: As AI data volumes grow, cost and capacity have become central elements in long-term AI infrastructure planning and continuous AI operations. This indicates a shift toward infrastructure planning focused on long-term scalability, operational efficiency, and addressing the growth of AI data.
- 87% of respondents prioritize capacity expansion and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) optimization.
Economics Driving Storage Decisions: Economics and scalability are key factors in decision-making for large-scale storage architectures. Tiered storage architectures that balance performance and cost throughout the AI data lifecycle are growing in importance.
- 74% of respondents cited TCO, capacity, and scalability as the main advantages of HDD-based infrastructure.
HDD-Based Infrastructure Remains the Foundation Supporting AI-Driven Data Growth: HDDs continue to constitute the majority of storage capacity configurations in data center environments, particularly for companies anticipating exabyte-scale data environments and long-term retention requirements.
- 70% of respondents familiar with their storage configurations reported operating environments where HDDs account for the majority (over 50%) of total storage capacity.
- 35% reported environments where HDDs account for more than 75% of total storage capacity.
Abish Mohamed of Amstergi Middle East stated:
"HDDs continue to be part of our long-term strategy because they provide low-cost, reliable, and scalable storage, making them ideal for high-capacity data and long-term retention applications."
An anonymous respondent also commented:
"HDDs are not legacy products; they are strategic capacity solutions. They are also ideal for addressing data growth and deliver the lowest cost per TB in the market. The future is not HDD or SSD, but HDD and SSD."
Implications for AI Infrastructure
The survey results indicate that many companies are designing infrastructure to support continuous AI data systems rather than one-off workloads or short-term experiments. It also confirms an industry-wide trend toward designing AI infrastructure as data systems built for long-term operation, rather than simple high-performance compute environments.
Ahmed Shihab, Chief Product Officer at WD, noted:
"AI is fundamentally a data system challenge, not just a compute challenge. Our customers are at the forefront of solving this challenge, and their needs directly shape our innovation roadmap and technology development for the AI era and beyond. Compute is reused, but data accumulates and continues to grow. Companies that succeed in the next phase of AI will be those that build infrastructure designed for large-scale, continuous data systems, rather than just peak compute performance."
An anonymous respondent stated:
"The reason HDDs remain in our long-term strategy is that they solve challenges that new technologies still cannot compete with in terms of economics and scalability. Simply put, it is the cheapest and most reliable way to store large amounts of data for long periods. While SSDs dominate high-performance workloads, nothing matches HDDs in the high-capacity storage space."
Survey Overview
This survey was conducted by WD in 2026, targeting 200 key global customers in the hyperscale cloud, CSP, and enterprise sectors. Among them, 80 represented organizations responsible for enterprise infrastructure strategy, data center operations, and storage architecture. The number of responses varied by question.
About WD
WD (Western Digital) builds storage infrastructure that powers certainty in the AI-driven data economy. Standing at the forefront of innovation, WD collaborates with the world’s leading hyperscalers, cloud service providers, and enterprises to deliver proven, reliable storage solutions at scale. With a culture focused on innovation and execution, WD helps customers store, protect, and leverage data worldwide with confidence. For more information, please visit WD’s LinkedIn or the official WD website.
WD, the WD logo, and Western Digital are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
© 2026 Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
The survey results confirm structural shifts in AI infrastructure. While compute resources are reused within training and inference cycles, data generated by AI—including training datasets, inference logs, embeddings, and outputs—continues to accumulate. As companies transition from the experimental stage to production-level AI deployment, infrastructure decisions are increasingly driven by long-term data retention and operational economics. Consequently, storage demand is compounding independently of short-term compute cycles.
Key Survey Findings
Growing Support for Proven Infrastructure: As AI deployment scales, companies are placing greater emphasis on infrastructure with a track record of operational success.
- 66% of respondents reported prioritizing infrastructure that delivers "consistent reliability" and "predictable performance at scale," while deprioritizing or considering deprioritizing the adoption of new technologies.
Reliability and AI Workload Support as Top Infrastructure Priorities: With the expansion of AI, infrastructure is shifting toward a throughput-oriented model to continuously support large-scale data movement. This approach values reliability, consistency, and efficiency over low latency to minimize operational overhead.
- 69% of respondents identified support for AI training and inference workloads as a priority.
- 69% identified improving reliability and availability as a priority.
- The percentage of respondents prioritizing latency optimization (7%) was lower than those prioritizing scalability, reliability, and operational efficiency.
Capacity Expansion and Cost Efficiency Drive Infrastructure Planning: As AI data volumes grow, cost and capacity have become central elements in long-term AI infrastructure planning and continuous AI operations. This indicates a shift toward infrastructure planning focused on long-term scalability, operational efficiency, and addressing the growth of AI data.
- 87% of respondents prioritize capacity expansion and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) optimization.
Economics Driving Storage Decisions: Economics and scalability are key factors in decision-making for large-scale storage architectures. Tiered storage architectures that balance performance and cost throughout the AI data lifecycle are growing in importance.
- 74% of respondents cited TCO, capacity, and scalability as the main advantages of HDD-based infrastructure.
HDD-Based Infrastructure Remains the Foundation Supporting AI-Driven Data Growth: HDDs continue to constitute the majority of storage capacity configurations in data center environments, particularly for companies anticipating exabyte-scale data environments and long-term retention requirements.
- 70% of respondents familiar with their storage configurations reported operating environments where HDDs account for the majority (over 50%) of total storage capacity.
- 35% reported environments where HDDs account for more than 75% of total storage capacity.
Abish Mohamed of Amstergi Middle East stated:
"HDDs continue to be part of our long-term strategy because they provide low-cost, reliable, and scalable storage, making them ideal for high-capacity data and long-term retention applications."
An anonymous respondent also commented:
"HDDs are not legacy products; they are strategic capacity solutions. They are also ideal for addressing data growth and deliver the lowest cost per TB in the market. The future is not HDD or SSD, but HDD and SSD."
Implications for AI Infrastructure
The survey results indicate that many companies are designing infrastructure to support continuous AI data systems rather than one-off workloads or short-term experiments. It also confirms an industry-wide trend toward designing AI infrastructure as data systems built for long-term operation, rather than simple high-performance compute environments.
Ahmed Shihab, Chief Product Officer at WD, noted:
"AI is fundamentally a data system challenge, not just a compute challenge. Our customers are at the forefront of solving this challenge, and their needs directly shape our innovation roadmap and technology development for the AI era and beyond. Compute is reused, but data accumulates and continues to grow. Companies that succeed in the next phase of AI will be those that build infrastructure designed for large-scale, continuous data systems, rather than just peak compute performance."
An anonymous respondent stated:
"The reason HDDs remain in our long-term strategy is that they solve challenges that new technologies still cannot compete with in terms of economics and scalability. Simply put, it is the cheapest and most reliable way to store large amounts of data for long periods. While SSDs dominate high-performance workloads, nothing matches HDDs in the high-capacity storage space."
Survey Overview
This survey was conducted by WD in 2026, targeting 200 key global customers in the hyperscale cloud, CSP, and enterprise sectors. Among them, 80 represented organizations responsible for enterprise infrastructure strategy, data center operations, and storage architecture. The number of responses varied by question.
About WD
WD (Western Digital) builds storage infrastructure that powers certainty in the AI-driven data economy. Standing at the forefront of innovation, WD collaborates with the world’s leading hyperscalers, cloud service providers, and enterprises to deliver proven, reliable storage solutions at scale. With a culture focused on innovation and execution, WD helps customers store, protect, and leverage data worldwide with confidence. For more information, please visit WD’s LinkedIn or the official WD website.
WD, the WD logo, and Western Digital are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
© 2026 Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
FAQ
Which company conducted this survey?
Western Digital.
What was the target and scale of the survey?
It was conducted in 2026 among 200 key global customers in hyperscale cloud, CSP, and enterprise fields.
What percentage of respondents prioritize capacity expansion and TCO optimization in AI infrastructure planning?
87% of respondents.
What percentage of respondents cited TCO, capacity, and scalability as major advantages of HDD-based infrastructure?
74% of respondents.
What percentage of respondents operate environments where HDDs make up the majority (over 50%) of storage capacity?
70% of respondents who are aware of their storage configuration.