The AI ​​craze overwhelms the storage chain, HDD delivery is delayed for two years, and QLC SSD takes over the market

According to foreign reports, as the expansion rate of global AI infrastructure far exceeds the load of the supply chain, a rare supply bottleneck appears in enterprise-level storage devices. Foreign reports pointed out that the delivery time of enterprise-class hard disks (HDDs) has been extended to 2 years. In order to ensure the operation of data centers, some cloud service providers are accelerating the use of QLC NAND solid-state drives (SSDs) as an alternative.

Many North American and Chinese cloud companies have recently purchased QLC SSD in large quantities for cold data and secondary redundant storage. Compared with the TLC architecture, QLC has higher density and cost-effectiveness, and can stably supply large capacity needs in the short term. However, the rush to buy QLC NAND has also caused a new wave of shortage pressure in the market. Some distributors revealed that the current production capacity of major NAND factories has almost been booked until 2026, and SSD quotations are likely to rise in the fourth quarter.

With the explosion of AI inference applications, the huge amount of data is rapidly squeezing the traditional hard drive market, and nearline HDDs are in short supply. While the gap continues to expand, demand for high-performance, large-capacity SSDs has surged, with QLC SSDs growing most significantly. Taiwanese manufacturers Phison, ADATA, Transcend, and Apacer are expected to benefit in advance, and legal persons are optimistic that shipment momentum will gradually increase from the fourth quarter.

The huge data traffic brought about by AI training and inference is accelerating changes in the storage structure of data centers. With its cost advantages and capacity flexibility, QLC SSD is expected to quickly replace HDD and become the mainstream option.

Legal analysis shows that as PCIe 5.0 controllers, cache algorithms and QLC process technologies continue to mature, 2026 will become an important node for the NAND industry to move towards structural balance, driving Taiwan's storage supply chain to usher in a new round of growth opportunities.

Hard drives on backorder for two years as AI data centers trigger HDD shortage — delays forcing rapid transition to QLC SSDs Further reading: AI demand companies are rushing to replace HDD with QLC SSD, and will usher in large-scale growth opportunities in 2026