Source URL: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/09/15/1823230/hard-drive-shortage-intensifies-as-ai-training-data-pushes-lead-times-beyond-12-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Source: Slashdot
Title: Hard Drive Shortage Intensifies as AI Training Data Pushes Lead Times Beyond 12 Months
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AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The text outlines a significant increase in demand for high-capacity hard drives driven by AI workloads, leading to extended lead times and price increases. This surge reflects the need for efficient storage solutions that balance speed and capacity for AI-related data.
Detailed Description: The demand for high-capacity hard drives has notably surged due to the burgeoning AI landscape, particularly impacting infrastructure security and cloud computing sectors. Key points include:
– **AI Workloads Drive Storage Demand**: The increasing use of AI requires substantial storage solutions to handle large datasets, model checkpoints, and inference logs, which necessitate a hybrid storage approach.
– **Extended Lead Times**: The lead times for procuring high-capacity hard drives have exceeded 52 weeks, emphasizing supply chain strain and logistics challenges.
– **Price Increases from Manufacturers**: Western Digital has announced price hikes across their entire hard drive portfolio attributed to the escalating demand for various capacities.
– **Storage Requirements**: AI-related files are too large for primary SSDs but need to be readily accessible, prompting the search for intermediate storage capable of handling petabytes of data efficiently.
– **Production Challenges**: The inability of hard drive manufacturers to significantly expand production capacity over the last decade has exacerbated the shortage.
– **Cloud Service Provider Strategies**: Some cloud service providers are considering using QLC (Quad-Level Cell) SSDs for storing cold data, despite the high costs, which are four to five times that of mechanical drives.
– **Innovation in SSDs**: Memory suppliers are responding by developing SSD products tailored specifically for this intermediate storage tier, aiming to strike a balance between speed and volume needs for AI infrastructure.
This trend poses critical implications for professionals in cloud computing and infrastructure security, as they need to strategize storage solutions that remain cost-effective while ensuring quick access to vital AI data.