Quantum CEO points out growth factors for tape storage: Three pressures: cost, energy, and cyber resilience

Quantum's leaders cite three pressures: cost, energy, and cyber resilience. Cyber ​​resilience refers to the ability to protect data and business and quickly recover from a cyber attack.

Hugues Meyras, CEO of Quantum, said:

"In addition to unprecedented data growth, cost, energy, and cyber resilience pressures are increasing across industries. As organizations adapt to this new reality, tape is increasingly being seen as a strategic component of modern data infrastructures, offering predictable economics and robust long-term data retention at scale."

The growth in the first quarter was directly supported by the steady shipment of the current generation "LTO-9" media and the introduction and launch of the next generation standard "LTO-10". In early 2026, a new cartridge capable of recording 40TB uncompressed was released, sparking market interest. According to the LTO program, LTO-10 will be available in two capacities: 30TB and 40TB uncompressed, with a maximum of 100TB when compressed and transfer speeds of 400MB per second.

"Tape continues to be a core and strategic storage solution, driven by the proliferation of all types of storage to support AI workloads and growth in traditional archive workloads," said Tom Coughlin, president of storage research firm Coughlin Associates. On the other hand, he said changes in the international trade environment have led to cautious purchasing behavior by companies. The view is that once this uncertainty is resolved, the strength of the tape market will become clearer. As power becomes a constraint for data center construction, he sees a growing trend toward incorporating tape into configurations because it has "the lowest power consumption of all storage media."

Will it reach a new record high in 2026?

The LTO program says these results confirm that many customers are expanding their tape infrastructure and positioning tape as a complementary technology to primary and secondary storage. Noting that tape has a low cost per TB and is highly energy efficient, it is predicted that the shipment capacity in 2026 will reach a new record high due to the combination of existing generation users updating and new adoption.