Hard drive prices have surged by an average of 46% since September — iconic 24TB Seagate BarraCuda now $500 as AI claims another victim

Hard drive prices have surged by an average of 46% since September, with popular models like Seagate's BarraCuda now priced at $500. The price increases are impacting various drives from brands like Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital, with some models seeing price hikes between 23% and 66%. The trend is not limited to Europe, as similar increases are observed in the U.S. as well. The surge in prices is attributed to the demand for AI infrastructure, which is affecting global DRAM capacity and squeezing RAM and SSD prices. Despite HDDs being less impacted by DRAM shortages, their prices are still being influenced by industry trends, alongside other core PC components like RAM, SSDs, and GPUs.