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Toshiba plans to nearly double annual hard disk drive production capacity at its Philippine operations by fiscal 2027, measured by storage capacity against fiscal 2025, as demand for high-capacity data-center storage grows with AI and cloud services. The company confirmed the production expansion on October 2, 2026, saying it had begun manufacturing nearline drives at an expanded line in Laguna and shipped its first products from that line.
A Nikkei report, cited by Investing.com, said Toshiba intends to invest about ¥60 billion (approximately $380 million) to expand its Philippine HDD facilities. The planned capacity increase would strengthen the Japanese manufacturer’s position in a market where Seagate and Western Digital are major competitors. Toshiba’s announcement confirms the production target, but its public statement did not provide the investment figure.
Philippines expansion adds nearline production
Toshiba Information Equipment (Philippines), the group’s HDD manufacturing subsidiary, said nearline HDD production has expanded beyond its Carmelray Industrial Park site to its Laguna Technopark facility. Nearline drives are high-capacity products used in data centers, including infrastructure supporting AI and cloud workloads.
The company said the Laguna site had recently started manufacturing the drives and had made its first shipment from the expanded production line. Toshiba tied the expansion to increasing global demand for data-center storage, but did not disclose shipment volumes, the line’s current output or a detailed construction and ramp-up timetable.
The Philippines operation began production in 1996, initially making 2.5-inch drives for personal computers. Over time, it became part of Toshiba’s global HDD manufacturing network, exporting products to customers worldwide. The new nearline production represents a shift at Laguna, which had previously focused primarily on PC drives.
Capacity target and market-share ambition
Toshiba’s stated goal is to nearly double its annual production capacity by fiscal 2027 compared with fiscal 2025, measured on a storage-capacity basis. That measure reflects the total data capacity of drives produced, rather than simply the number of physical units; changes in drive capacity can therefore affect the comparison.
Investing.com reported that Toshiba currently has just over 10% of the HDD market by storage capacity and has a medium-term ambition to reach about 30%. The figures and target were attributed to the Nikkei report, rather than the company’s October 2 announcement. Reaching that ambition would depend not only on manufacturing expansion but also on component supply and customer demand; Toshiba did not detail its route to the market-share goal.
Analysts flag supply-chain limits
Evercore’s comments, as reported by Investing.com, focused on the long lead times involved in turning new capacity into drives available for sale. The report said media capacity additions typically take 18 to 24 months and converting capital expenditure into production units takes at least 12 to 18 months.
Analysts cited in separate Investing.com coverage also cautioned that Toshiba relies on outside suppliers for components including recording heads and media, so an increase in drive assembly capacity may not translate immediately into an equivalent increase in finished-drive supply. The report identified TDK as a head supplier, Resonac for media and HOYA for glass substrates. It did not establish whether those suppliers have committed to matching Toshiba’s intended expansion.
What comes next
Toshiba’s immediate milestone is already under way: production has started on the expanded nearline line, and the company says its first shipment has left the facility. Its next stated benchmark is the aim to nearly double annual capacity by fiscal 2027, relative to fiscal 2025; the company has not announced interim capacity targets or a quarterly schedule.
The production increase is separate from Toshiba’s longer-term product roadmap. Investing.com reported plans for 40TB-class drives using microwave-assisted magnetic recording and 12 platters in 2027, followed by a target of 65TB-class drives in 2030 and 100TB-class products later. The October 2 company announcement did not confirm those product milestones, so they remain based on the report rather than the primary statement. For now, the confirmed development is the Philippine production expansion and its capacity goal—not a disclosed volume of additional drives reaching customers.
