External Storage Market Report 2025

This report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the market’s historic and forecast market growth by geography.

The external storage market size has grown rapidly in recent years. It will grow from $40.44 billion in 2024 to $46.05 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9%. The growth in the historic period can be attributed to rise in data generation, emergence of cloud-based services, expansion of digital media and entertainment, growing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), increasing importance of data backup.

The external storage market size is expected to see rapid growth in the next few years. It will grow to $74.06 billion in 2029 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.6%. The growth in the forecast period can be attributed to continued data proliferation, growing demand for remote work solutions, rising emphasis on cybersecurity measures, increasing adoption of 4k and 8k content, expanding use of edge computing. Major trends in the forecast period include expansion of network-attached storage (NAS), adoption of solid-state drives (SSDs), integration of artificial intelligence (ai) for smart storage, evolving role in edge computing, sustainable and eco-friendly storage solutions.

The anticipated surge in data storage needs is poised to drive the growth of the external storage market in the forthcoming years. Data storage involves preserving digital files, folders, or other information on a storage medium or system in a format that allows easy retrieval in the future. The escalating demand for data usage fuels the increased reliance on external storage due to its expanded capacity, data backup capabilities, mobility, and adaptability across various devices and industries. For instance, as per a report from The Linux Foundation in December 2022, an average end-user organization with a storage capacity of up to 20 petabytes witnessed annual data growth of 566 terabytes in 2021 and a significant surge to 1,746 terabytes in 2022. Similarly, organizations with a storage capacity of up to 25 petabytes experienced a substantial yearly data growth of 2,208 terabytes in 2022, marking a 215.43% increase compared to 2021. Hence, the escalating demand for data storage is anticipated to propel the external storage market.

The growth in the number of enterprises is expected to drive the expansion of the external storage market. An enterprise refers to an organization, particularly a business entity, that has the authority to operate independently, including the ability to sign contracts, own property, accumulate debts, and open bank accounts. External storage is commonly used in enterprises as primary storage, connected to servers via Ethernet or fiber channel switches, or as secondary storage for backup and archiving purposes. For example, a report from Startups.co.uk, a UK-based online resource and advisory platform, showed that in 2023, the number of new businesses rose by 19.5%, reaching a total of 39,966 establishments. This increase also reflects a 6.5% rise compared to the same period in 2022. Therefore, the growth in the number of enterprises is set to drive the external storage market.

Leading companies within the external storage market are dedicated to advancing their technological capabilities, focusing on innovations such as NAND flash memory to establish a competitive advantage. NAND flash memory represents a non-volatile storage technology capable of retaining data even without power and finds widespread application across various electronic devices, ranging from smartphones and laptops to enterprise storage systems and data centers. For example, in March 2022, Micron Technology Inc., a US-based producer of memory and storage solutions, unveiled the 7450 solid-state drive (SSD) embedded with 176-layer 3D NAND technology. This SSD offers a broad capacity spectrum, spanning from 400 GB to 15.36 TB, catering to diverse requirements in data centers. Moreover, it ensures consistent and reliable latencies under two milliseconds, a critical aspect in facilitating high-quality service delivery for substantial data center workloads.

In July 2024, Belden Inc., a US-based manufacturer of fiber optic cables, acquired Precision Optical Technologies, Inc., for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition is part of Belden Inc.'s strategy to expand its optical transceiver portfolio and bolster its position in the expanding fiber network market to address increasing bandwidth demands. Precision Optical Technologies, Inc., a US-based systems integration company, specializes in advanced optical systems, which may require external storage solutions for data management and processing.

Major companies operating in the external storage market report are Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Dell Technologies Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, International Business Machines Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SK Hynix Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Toshiba Corporation, Micron Technology Inc., Western Digital Corporation, Seagate Technology LLC, Kingston Technology Company Inc., NetApp Inc., Hitachi Vantara LLC, Pure Storage Inc., SanDisk Ltd., ADATA Technology Co. Ltd., Transcend Information Inc., Quantum Corporation, QNAP Systems Inc., Synology Inc., LaCie, Infortrend Technology Inc., Promise Technology Inc., Zoolz, Thecus Technology Corp., pCloud International AG, ID Cloud Services Ltd., Koofr d.o.o.

North America was the largest region in the external storage market in 2024. The regions covered in the external storage market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa. The countries covered in the external storage market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain.

The external storage market consists of revenues earned by entities by providing data security, remote access, cloud integration, and data backup and recovery. The market value includes the value of related goods sold by the service provider or included within the service offering. The external storage market also includes sales of network-attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SAN), and solid-state hybrid drives. Values in this market are ‘factory gate’ values, that is the value of goods sold by the manufacturers or creators of the goods, whether to other entities (including downstream manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers) or directly to end customers. The value of goods in this market includes related services sold by the creators of the goods.

External storage refers to additional data storage units that are not physically integrated into a computer or another device. It offers increased capacity and accessibility for storing files, media, and various types of data externally, providing expanded storage capabilities for purposes such as backup, data sharing, and freeing up space on the primary device.

The main types of external storage include optical storage, solid-state storage devices, flash storage devices, external hard drives, and others. Optical storage involves the use of optical discs such as CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs to store data for an extended period, employing lasers for recording and reading data. This method is commonly used for preserving large amounts of data, distributing software, and delivering multimedia content. These external storage systems are connected through interface technologies such as universal serial bus (USB), Thunderbolt, external SATA (eSATA), and Firewire. External storage systems with capacities ranging from up to 1 TB, 1 TB to 100 TB, and exceeding 100 TB find applications in various fields, including consumer electronics, healthcare devices, automotive applications, enterprise storage, industrial applications, and others.

The external storage market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides external storage market statistics, including external storage industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with as external storage market share, detailed external storage market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the external storage industry. This external storage market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenario of the industry.

The market value is defined as the revenues that enterprises gain from the sale of goods and/or services within the specified market and geography through sales, grants, or donations in terms of the currency (in USD, unless otherwise specified).

The revenues for a specified geography are consumption values that are revenues generated by organizations in the specified geography within the market, irrespective of where they are produced. It does not include revenues from resales along the supply chain, either further along the supply chain or as part of other products.

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