--- title: "CEO \"Refuses to Expand Production,\" Seagate Tech Stock Skidded 6%, Dragging Down Hard Drive Stocks" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/286836753.md" description: "\"Building new factories takes too long!\" Seagate CEO's refusal to expand production ignites panic over AI storage supply, heavily impacting the hard drive sector. Soaring AI demand has pushed lead times to over a year, yet giants prefer maintaining technological iteration over expanding capacity. The supply-demand gap is difficult to resolve in the short term, with capacity constraints becoming a hidden worry; the game between high valuations and shortage risks has begun" datetime: "2026-05-19T01:23:47.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/286836753.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286836753.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/286836753.md) --- # CEO "Refuses to Expand Production," Seagate Tech Stock Skidded 6%, Dragging Down Hard Drive Stocks Seagate Tech CEO's remark that "building new factories takes too much time" triggered market concerns about supply bottlenecks amid surging AI storage demand, leading to a collective decline in the hard drive sector. On Monday, Seagate Tech shares closed down more than 6%, leading the storage sector lower. CEO Dave Mosley stated at an industry conference hosted by JPMorgan Chase that the company would not redirect resources toward building new factories or introducing new equipment because "that would take too long" and could slow the pace of technological innovation. This statement raised market concerns that leading hard drive manufacturers have clear limitations in their willingness to expand capacity against the backdrop of continuously exploding demand from AI data centers. Dragged down by this, SanDisk and Western Digital Corp. shares both closed down about 5%. Nevertheless, the cumulative gains of these three companies since 2026 have all exceeded 100%, indicating that the market's long-term confidence in the AI storage track has not been fundamentally shaken. ## CEO Explicitly Refuses to Expand Production, Concerns Over Supply Bottlenecks Surface When asked at the JPMorgan conference whether Seagate would expand factory capacity, Mosley gave a clear negative signal. "If we pull our team out to start building new factories or introducing new equipment, it will take too long. You end up with more capacity, but you also slow down the growth rate of technology," he said. Mosley's logic is that Seagate's current strategic focus is on increasing the storage density of individual hard drives, rather than expanding shipment volumes through new capacity. In his view, there is resource competition between the two, and blind expansion would instead divert R&D investment, affecting the speed of technological iteration. This statement directly touched investors' sensitive nerves. Currently, the boom in AI data center construction has driven a sharp rise in hard drive demand, with wait times for Seagate customers sometimes exceeding a year. In this context, management's active decision to forgo expansion options means the supply-demand gap will be difficult to bridge in the short term. ## Demand Far Exceeds Supply, Lead Times Extend Beyond One Year At the conference, Mosley admitted that the company is currently facing "very long lead times" and stated that Seagate has established a visibility mechanism of four to five quarters with customers to help data center clients plan purchases in advance. "We know what products will be available a year from now," he said. "We have basically told customers that if you want to plan well—which you should for data centers—we know what products will be available, and you can purchase in advance within a certain cycle. We hope to keep this four-to-five-quarter visibility very solid. But demand far exceeds this level." This statement, on one hand, shows that Seagate has a certain degree of foresight in supply management, and on the other hand, clearly acknowledges that existing capacity planning cannot cover actual demand, and the supply gap will persist. ## AI Boom Drives High Performance Growth, Sector Gains Still Over 100% Year-to-Date Despite the sell-off on Monday, the fundamental performance of Seagate and its peers remains strong. Seagate's revenue grew 39% to $9 billion in 2025, achieving a strong rebound after contracting in 2024, mainly driven by large-scale purchases of hard drive products for data centers by AI customers. The significant surge in stock prices in the storage sector in recent months is a direct reflection of the surge in demand driven by the AI investment wave. As a core component of AI data center infrastructure, demand for hard drives remains robust. Notably, chip production cycles often span multiple quarters, and investor doubts are rising about whether leading storage manufacturers can continue to meet demand. The cumulative gains of Seagate, SanDisk, and Western Digital since 2026 have all exceeded 100%. Even accounting for Monday's decline, the overall upward trend remains significant, reflecting the market's high recognition of the long-term demand for AI storage. ## Capacity Constraints Become a Common Industry Worry, Futures Market Lays Out Hedging Tools Mosley's statement reflects the structural contradictions facing the entire storage industry: explosive growth in AI demand, but the expansion cycle for hardware capacity lags far behind the demand curve. The production cycle for a single chip often spans multiple quarters, making it difficult for manufacturers to respond to demand shocks by building new capacity in the short term. Meanwhile, according to CNBC, CME Group is preparing to launch a semiconductor futures market, aiming to provide more traders with tools to lock in prices and hedge against the risk of rising computing power costs. This move somewhat reflects the market's continued attention to the risk of price fluctuations in the storage and chip supply chains. For investors, Mosley's statement means that **under the pattern of sustained high AI demand but limited supply expansion, the tight supply-demand situation in the storage sector will be difficult to fundamentally alleviate in the short term**, and valuation premiums and supply risks for related stocks will coexist. ### Related Stocks - [STX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/STX.US.md) - [JPM.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM.US.md) - [SNDK.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SNDK.US.md) - [WDC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WDC.US.md) - [CME.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CME.US.md) - [JPM-M.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-M.US.md) - [JPM-C.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-C.US.md) - [JPM-D.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-D.US.md) - [JPM-L.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-L.US.md) - [8634.JP](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/8634.JP.md) - [JPM-K.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-K.US.md) - [JPM-J.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/JPM-J.US.md) - [SNDKV.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SNDKV.US.md) - [WDCVV.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WDCVV.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Seagate Technology Holdings PLC $STX](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286637728.md) - [Are Wall Street Analysts Bullish on Seagate Technology Stock??](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286772566.md) - [How Beaten-Down Tempus AI Stock Offers a Lottery Ticket for Traders Here](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286786866.md) - [AI face is taking over — and driving plastic surgeons crazy](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286641783.md) - [Seagate Technology Holdings Insider Sold Shares Worth $12,687,979, According to a Recent SEC Filing](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286470469.md)