At this week’s Semafor World Economy forum, policy makers, world leaders and technology CEOs like me gathered to talk about the economic opportunities that will shape the future of our world.
It’s probably no surprise that the dominant theme throughout the three-day forum was how the unprecedented technology transformations from AI, cloud services and connected systems are creating profound opportunities that will require all of us to navigate a new set of complexities and innovate in new ways.
It’s understandable that up to this point, the primary focus is on how we’re building the technology infrastructure to sustain the next era of growth. And while the headlines focus on memory shortages, they miss the bigger picture. What we’re seeing is not simply a supply constraint — it’s the result of unprecedented increases in data generation and data valuation. Data has shifted from being a commodity or cost center to a compounding strategic asset for nations, businesses and individuals. This asset fuels intelligence, automation, healthcare breakthroughs, economic opportunity and competitive differentiation.
Consider this: AI generated 15 billion photos in just 1.5 years, a volume that previously took 150 years. A single minute of video is 100 times larger than a high-definition image. As the volume of data accelerates, so does its value … but only if it’s stored, protected and trusted.
We are entering a new era of data decentralization — storage in the cloud, yes, but increasingly closer to compute environments at the edge. This is critical for emerging technologies like robotics and autonomous systems, which by 2035 will generate over 20% of all global data, translating to multiple zettabytes annually.
From our vantage point at Seagate, we see AI as one driver of this decentralization, but not the only one. Modern computing applications — especially those harnessing unstructured video data — are pushing demand for mass-capacity storage both in the cloud and at the edge.
The central question our customers ask is: How can infrastructure scale so that data growth becomes a long-term asset rather than a constraint? The answer lies in innovation in data storage.
About 80% of the world’s data is stored on hard drives, and the engineering behind them is nothing short of remarkable. Today, we’re shipping 40TB drives thanks to breakthroughs in nanoscale photonics and micro-laser technology that enable our customers to expand capacity within the same footprint.
The innovative technologies within these drives is extraordinary, powered by nanoscale robots with the power to write data faster than hummingbird wings on tracks smaller than five atoms. Last quarter alone, Seagate shipped 190 exabytes, representing millions of these nanoscale robots at work.
At these seismic technology transformations begin to converge, I believe we are at an inflection point. The world is focused on AI models and applications, but the real conversation must also address the data itself: its protection, provenance, integrity and standards. This is not just a technology challenge, but an economic, societal and security imperative.
If we take a deliberate, collaborative approach to data — across technology, economics and policy — we can unlock its enormous value and create new opportunities for a better world.
The takeaway is clear: Innovation in storage is the foundation everything else is built on, whether it’s AI, the cloud, advanced manufacturing, every digital breakthrough. I’m convinced now more than ever that those who can store more data, access it faster and trust its integrity will have a decisive edge in economic competitiveness and security in the decades to come.
Read more about Seagate’s nanoscale innovations.
