- Seagate study finds 97% anticipates AI to increase its demand for storage in the future
- Sustainability is recognized, but the cost is even more important
- Modern HDDs offer superior efficiency, and are cheaper
A new Seagate report has revealed how much effect artificial intelligence is having on the amount of storage required by data centers, which presents a great sustainability challenge.
He found that 94.5% said the AI had increased their data storage needs, with even more (97%) anticipating the growth of AI to impact the demand for storage even more.
However, despite the generalized recognition and consideration for the environment, companies are struggling to prioritize it in the midst of the growing costs, that tariffs, government objectives and the shortage of some materials have influenced
Data centers face a great sustainability headache
Almost 95% of respondents are concerned about environmental impact, says Seagate, but only 3.3% prioritize it on purchasing decisions and many focus on the total cost of property and purchase costs.
Among the key factors that put data centers at risk are high energy consumption (53.5%), raw material requirements (49.5%), physical space restrictions (45.5%), infrastructure costs (28.5%) and acquisition costs (27%).
“The data centers are under intense scrutiny, not only because they support modern workloads of AI, but because they are becoming one of the most intensive energy sectors of the digital economy,” said Seagate SVP of Cloud Marketing, Jason Feist.
Seagate provides that energy efficiency technologies play a broader role in decarbonization of data centers, reduce energy requirements and reach other objectives at the same time.
Although the SSD promises to be faster and more efficient, the 3+ HAMR -based Mozaic platform (for HDD) can deliver up to three times more energy density while reducing carbon incorporated into more than 70% by Terabyte and the cost of decreased by Terabyte by 25%.
The report also incorporates the motto of “reduce, reuse, recycle” by highlighting the importance of extending the useful life of the product and then reusing dismantled equipment to reduce its environmental load.
Sharing responsibility through cooperation in the supply chain also helps reduce emissions in areas 1, 2 and 3, allowing a broader effect.
“Sustainability cannot be resolved in isolation. A holistic approach that covers infrastructure, life cycle management and the responsibility of the entire industry could ensure that the growth of AI operations and data centers does not go at the expense of the environment,” Feist added.
