Worldwide Enterprise External OEM Storage Systems Market Spending showed a 33.7% growth in Q2 2026 and is expected to grow an average of 8.0% over a 5-year period, according to IDC.
The worldwide external OEM enterprise storage systems (ESS) market extended its acceleration in the second quarter of 2026, reaching $10.3 billion in spending, a 33.7% year-over-year increase compared to the same quarter of 2025. The result follows 22.7% growth in the first quarter and compares with 3.9% growth for full-year 2025. IDC now expects 2026 spending to grow 22.8%, up from 16.3% in its June forecast, with growth driven overwhelmingly by price rather than volume: external OEM price per gigabyte rose from roughly $0.29 in 1Q26 to $0.39 in 2Q26, while shipped capacity is forecast to decline in 2026.
Component costs, particularly for NAND flash, SSDs and DRAM, remain the main force shaping the market. Memory supply can generally be obtained, but demand runs ahead of supply, and enterprise buyers, lacking the multiyear agreements hyperscalers hold, are paying elevated market prices and in some cases pulling purchases forward ahead of further increases. IDC expects elevated pricing to persist through at least the second half of 2027, with new capacity from 2028 flattening prices rather than lowering them, and second-half growth to remain positive but below the first-half pace. All-flash arrays remain the main beneficiary, supported by AI and agentic workloads and a deferred refresh cycle, and are expected to grow at a 12.5% five-year compound rate. Thus, the market is expected to continue in a positive trajectory of 8.0% compound average growth through 2030.
| Data – Year | External OEM | External OEM Market Annual Growth % |
| 2025 | $35,313 | 4.3% |
| 2026 | $43,365 | 22.8% |
| 2027 | $45,158 | 4.1% |