WD Bets 8x Bandwidth Beats More Terabytes as 40TB UltraSMR Starts Shipping

Western Digital has begun shipping new 40TB hard drives utilizing ePMR technology. The company also confirmed its 44TB HAMR drives are still slated for release in early 2027, indicating a dual-track approach to increasing storage density.
Key takeaways
- New 40TB drives are now shipping.
- ePMR technology powers the latest drives.
- Future 44TB HAMR drives on track for 2027.
- Focus on density over raw capacity per drive.
Why it matters
For AI professionals, increased storage capacity per drive means more efficient and cost-effective data management. This allows for larger datasets to be stored locally, potentially speeding up training and inference processes for AI models.




