Artificial intelligence adoption is accelerating demand for data storage globally and contributing to supply delays for enterprise hard drives, Tosh NXT Tech Ventures Managing Director Santosh Varghese said at the GITEX Kenya forum held in Nairobi last week.
Varghese, whose firm is a commercial partner for Toshiba Europe managing the company’s data storage business across the Middle East and Africa, told the forum that growing use of AI in business and government is increasing pressure on organisations to expand data centre capacity and enterprise storage systems.
“Today, data is a currency. Because there’s an AI revolution happening, and for AI engines to work, you need to have data,” Varghese said.
The company cited research indicating that nearly 166 zettabytes of data will be generated globally within the next few years, a trend it said is pushing institutions to invest in reliable storage systems. Tosh NXT did not name the source of the research in its statement.
Varghese said AI systems require large volumes of stored information for training, analytics and automation, putting data centres and enterprise storage infrastructure at the centre of digital transformation programmes. He added that demand has tightened supply in some markets. “There’s a massive demand for Hard Disk Drives across all categories, mainly Enterprise HDD because businesses and hyperscalers are implementing large AI solutions,” he said.
He said some customers are experiencing delivery delays, with certain businesses waiting up to four months to acquire hard drives for major projects, attributing the situation to global shortages of storage devices.
At the event, the company showcased Toshiba’s MG Series enterprise hard disk drives and related technologies, including high-capacity models starting from 24 terabytes. Tosh NXT also pointed to Toshiba’s roadmap that includes a 32TB hard drive designed for data centres and AI applications, according to the statement.
Varghese said some enterprise hard drives use helium-filled technology intended to reduce heat generation and power consumption in large-scale data centres. The company said enterprise hard drives remain among the most in-demand products globally, particularly among banks, hospitals, universities and large technology firms operating data centres.
Beyond enterprise infrastructure, Toshiba also supplies storage products for surveillance systems, small businesses and consumers, Tosh NXT said. Varghese noted that surveillance storage demand is rising alongside AI-enabled security systems and smart monitoring technologies.
According to the company, Toshiba launched the S300 AI Surveillance Hard Drive last year, which it said can support up to 64 CCTV cameras and handle 32 AI video feeds continuously throughout the year.
The statement positions Kenya and other African markets as growth areas as organisations invest in cloud infrastructure, AI and broader digital transformation. For Kenya’s business landscape, increased demand for data storage has implications for data centre investment, IT procurement cycles and the cost of deploying AI workloads, especially for regulated sectors such as banking and healthcare that must retain and protect large datasets.
Varghese said organisations are also changing how they use stored information, shifting from long-term retention to more active analytics aimed at improving efficiency. “Businesses are not just storing data and keeping it for seven or ten years. They are analyzing the data and using it for business applications,” he said.
Looking ahead, continued AI uptake is likely to keep demand elevated for enterprise storage and surveillance-grade drives, potentially sustaining longer lead times for hardware procurement as Kenyan firms expand data centre capacity and modernise digital infrastructure.