According to Seagate’s 2026 Data Infrastructure Readiness Report, nearly all enterprise technology decision-makers expect AI to increase their organisations’ storage requirements over the next three years. However, only 38% of those surveyed consider themselves fully prepared to manage those incoming demands.
of respondents say they are fully prepared for AI’s long-term data demands
The study, conducted by Recon Analytics on behalf of Seagate, surveyed 2,712 enterprise technology decision-makers across the US, China, India, UK, Germany, France and Japan. Commercial enthusiasm is helping drive this transition, with 86% of respondents reporting moderate or significant returns from their AI investments, including 33% who reported significant measurable returns. Storage requirements are expected to rise alongside that adoption, as 99% of respondents anticipate AI will increase storage needs over the next three years and 32% forecast capacity growth of more than 50%.
Data quality and storage are leading deployment concerns
Data quality and readiness was the most commonly cited challenge to AI deployment at 53%, followed by storage infrastructure at 43%. Compute availability was cited by 27% of respondents, while 24% pointed to energy constraints.
Leading challenges with AI deployment
Investment plans indicate that organisations are allocating resources across several parts of their data infrastructure to address these demands. Data centre investment features heavily, with 76% ranking it among their organisation’s top three infrastructure priorities and 20% identifying it as their highest priority. Planning and governance also affect preparedness, where AI strategy maturity was the most commonly cited barrier at 16%, followed by budget and resources alongside data management and governance, both at 14%. At the same time, 98% of respondents agreed that AI was turning storage into strategic business infrastructure as organisations prepare to retain, manage and access larger volumes of data.
Rank data centre investment among their top three infrastructure priorities
Respondents report significant measurable returns from AI investments
“AI is reshaping the way organisations plan, build and operate infrastructure,” said Melyssa Banda, senior vice president of Edge Storage Business at Seagate Technology. “As data volumes grow, so does the value organisations can derive from the data. They need data infrastructure that helps them preserve, access and use more of that data over time. Sustainable Scaling is about making those infrastructure decisions more efficient, more durable and more connected to long-term data value.”
Energy concerns are affecting expansion plans
Energy use and sustainability requirements are already influencing infrastructure expansion across the sector. Some 77% of respondents said their organisation had delayed or restructured AI infrastructure expansion because of these concerns, including 36% that had significantly restructured planned investments. When examining specific environmental factors, AI-related energy consumption was the most commonly cited concern at 52%, followed by carbon emissions from energy consumption at 51%.
Equipment lifecycles are also part of infrastructure planning. The survey found that 97% of respondents agreed that extending infrastructure lifecycles significantly improves sustainability, while 94% expect their storage operations to become more sustainable over the next five years.
