CITIC Securities: The current upcycle of data center HDD is expected to last at least until around the second half of 2026.

CICC Securities research report pointed out that since 2023, AI-driven global data center storage demand has significantly increased. HDD has obvious advantages over SSD in terms of capacity and cost, becoming the preferred choice for near-line storage for European and American cloud vendors. Currently, Seagate Technology and Western Digital contribute 80% of global capacity. After experiencing a downturn cycle in 2021, these companies have a lack of short-term expansion willingness and motivation, and the expansion cycle generally takes about 12-18 months. The current upturn cycle of data center HDDs will begin in 2024. The delivery time and order visibility for major enterprise products are generally more than a year, and the industry's tight supply-demand situation is expected to continue at least until the second half of 2026.