Toshiba to spend ¥60B expanding Philippines HDD plant; Seagate, WD slide

Toshiba announced it will invest 60 billion yen (roughly $380 million) to expand its HDD plant in the Philippines, with plans to double capacity by fiscal 2027 and capture the storage demand coming from AI data centers, according to a Wallstreetcn report dated October 3, 2026. The report describes it as Toshiba's first major investment in the HDD business in about five years. By storage capacity, Toshiba currently holds slightly more than 10% of the global market, and its mid-term target is to lift that share to 30%.

The news landed hard on its rivals. Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) each fell more than 10% on Friday, the same day the Nasdaq closed at a record high — making the two drive makers the most conspicuous decliners in the market. Year to date, Seagate is up 208% and Western Digital 141%, against a 22% gain for the Nasdaq 100.

The report ties that run-up to a single premise: no one was building new plants. It describes an industry-wide emphasis on supply discipline, with the three major drive makers holding capacity flat and all capacity growth coming from higher areal density per drive, and notes that the same premise underpinned commodity memory chains such as DRAM and NAND. As of the report, the situation stands where Toshiba has announced the investment and its capacity goal, and Seagate and Western Digital shares have already reacted.