IDC External Storage Tracker: $10.3 Billion in Q2 2026 as Server Market Tops $166 Billion on AI Demand
StorageReview, Monday, September 21st, 2026
IDC reports Q2 2026 enterprise storage revenue hit $10.3B and server revenue hit a record $166.3B, both driven by AI demand.
IDC's tracker shows the external storage market accelerating after a sluggish 2025, with storage revenue up 33.6% year-over-year to $10.3 billion and all-flash arrays making up 52% of revenue.
High-end systems priced above $250K surged 90.6%, reflecting large-scale AI deployments, while component shortages pushed prices up.
Dell Technologies led both markets with 23.8% storage share and 13.4% server share.
The server market grew even faster, up 52% to a record $166.3 billion, with GPU-accelerated systems generating $87.4 billion and average selling prices for those servers jumping 43.6% to nearly $170,200, as growth broadened beyond hyperscalers to neoclouds and enterprise inference workloads.