Incongruously, ‘old tech’ is still difficult to beat for low‑cost, power‑efficient, and cyber‑resilient long‑term storage.
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Last year, when we pondered over the LTO shipment numbers, we contrasted the medium’s undeniable success with Elon Musk’s DOGE crusade to wipe it out. It was criticized and dismissed for being “old technology.” But there’s certainly life in this old dog, as there were 176.5 exabytes of compressed LTO tape capacity shipped in 2024. Shipments were thus up 15.4% vs. the prior year and hit new records .
There was a small dip in LTO capacity shipped in 2025, an aberration characterized as "bad weather" by the TPCs on social media. This modest 9% YOY decline meant that 160.3 exabytes of tape storage were shipped last year. However, “shipped capacity was higher than any other year in history save 2024 itself,” wrote an LTO program representative in an email to Tom’s Hardware . The latest figures also show LTO demand is back with a vengeance, with shipped capacity in Q1 2026 a stunning 57% higher than in Q1 2025.
“We are seeing unprecedented data growth combined with increasing cost, energy, and cyber resilience pressures across the industry,” said Hugues Meyrath, CEO, Quantum. “As organizations adapt to this new reality, tape is increasingly viewed as a strategic component of modern data infrastructure, delivering predictable economics and resilient long-term data retention at scale.”
Other contributors to growth, evidenced by the latest figures, were the market’s readiness for LTO-9 and LTO-10. The former is still being promoted by TPCs as a very worthwhile upgrade to stickers reliant on older generations. LTO-9 tapes support up to 18TB uncompressed or 45TB of compressed data according to the program companies. 2026 capacity shipment figures have also benefited from the early ramp of LTO-10 . With these latest-gen cartridges up to 40TB of data per cartridge natively, or up to 100TB compressed, can be stored. Meanwhile, TPPCs are ensuring tape will continue to be attractive with roadmaps extending to LTO-14, which offers up to a gargantuan 576TB native capacity per cartridge, and can fit up to a touted 1,440TB compressed.
Seagate to start qualifying record-setting 50TB HDDs in 2027
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/tape-companies-ship-160-exabytes-of-storage-in-2025-ai-data-demands-drive-unprecedented-data-growth-capacity-shipped-in-q1-2026-rose-57-percent-yoy-driven-by-ai-lto-9-momentum-and-early-lto-10-uptake#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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