Organizations report AI returns yet 62% lack storage readiness

A Seagate survey of 2,712 technology decision-makers at large enterprises reveals a stark gap: 99% of respondents expect AI to increase their storage needs over the next three years, and 32% estimate growth exceeding 50%, yet only 38% say their infrastructure is ready. The study, conducted by Recon Analytics in May–June 2026, covered the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan.

Data quality and readiness emerged as the most common challenge, cited by 53% of respondents. Storage infrastructure followed at 43%, well ahead of compute availability at 27% and power constraints at 24%. The figures confirm what infrastructure engineers have known for some time: a model is only as good as the data feeding it — clean, labeled, and accessible in real time.

Despite the gaps, 86% of organizations report "moderate or significant" returns on AI investments, with one-third describing the return as "significant and measurable." That shift reframes storage: 98% of respondents agreed storage is becoming a strategic component of business infrastructure. Accordingly, 76% ranked data centers among their top three investment priorities, and one in five placed them at the top.

The report also highlights non-technical barriers: immature AI strategies, limited budgets and resources, and data management and governance challenges. Seagate calls the required approach "sustainable scaling," a term meant to balance the drive for capacity against energy, space, and operational cost limits. The data suggest the market is moving from the experimentation phase to the infrastructure phase — and that is where the real difficulty lies.