Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation, a unit of Toshiba Corp. (TYO: 6502), announced that it has become the first company in the storage industry to verify 12-disk stacking technology for high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs). The breakthrough, combined with Microwave-Assisted Magnetic Recording (MAMR) technology, positions Toshiba to launch 40-terabyte-class 3.5-inch HDDs for data centers by 2027.
The achievement builds upon Toshiba’s established 10-disk nearline HDD platform, adding two additional disks without increasing the drive’s physical size. This was made possible through advanced engineering that includes newly developed components and the transition from aluminum to glass substrates—a shift that enables thinner disk designs, improved durability, and greater mechanical precision. The result is higher data density, enhanced reliability, and improved in-plane accuracy, all essential for modern cloud and AI workloads.
“Toshiba’s 12-disk HDD platform delivers the scalability and reliability needed to support the exponential growth in AI-driven data center storage, enabling exabyte-class capacity with proven recording technologies,” said Raghu Gururangan, Vice President of Engineering & Product Marketing at Toshiba America Electronic Components.
The announcement comes amid explosive global data generation driven by cloud computing, streaming services, generative AI, and data analytics. As hyperscale data centers grapple with rising capacity demands, Toshiba’s innovation aims to deliver next-generation storage solutions that balance scalability with a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
The company is also exploring integration of its 12-disk stacking technology with Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) for even higher-capacity drives in the future.
John Chen, Vice President at market research firm TRENDFOCUS, said Toshiba’s consistent ability to expand platter counts “has enabled it to achieve higher capacity points using well-tested recording technologies along with advancements in head and media design.” He added that Toshiba, as the first HDD manufacturer to announce commercialization plans for a 12-disk platform, “paves a path for competitive high-capacity HDD offerings” as the industry transitions toward HAMR-based designs.
