AI Demand Drives Up Storage Costs, Fueling Optical Disc Price Increases at Taiwan's RITEK and CMC Magnetics

Heavy buying of advanced memory and enterprise-grade storage equipment by AI data centers has driven up HDD and SSD costs, prompting companies to move infrequently accessed “cold data” to optical discs. The discs offer offline storage, protection against hacking and low energy consumption. As competitors have exited the market, about 80%–90% of global production capacity has become concentrated at RITEK and CMC Magnetics, creating an oligopoly.

On March 19, 2026, RITEK said first-quarter optical disc prices had risen by more than 10% and estimated they would increase by a further 10%–20% in the second quarter. That day, RITEK closed at its daily limit of NT$14.4, while CMC Magnetics rose 8.64% to NT$11.95. On June 2, CMC Magnetics Chairman Weng Ming-hsien said prices had climbed by about 10%–15% in the first quarter and continued to post double-digit gains in the second.