Yes, but that’s been slowing. They’re reaching limits until the next advance in HDDs.
Flash is still much more expensive per GB.
Power costs, server costs and Datacenter space are going up.
The next advance on HDDs literally came last year. 20tb+ drives are available at ever decreasing prices these days, after being stalled at 16/18tb for a good few years.
They’ve been out for a while, but it’s the same SMR tech. HAMR/MAMR are just starting to get going that will enable the next leap. But they’re not shipping in volume and reliability isn’t yet known. It’ll be a bit before you see them in widespread use.
The HAMR/MAMR are exactly what I’m talking about. It is obviously unproven, but you can get new 20/22tb CMR HDDs now for 17.5¢ per GB very regularly, not counting sales. They’re what I’m currently running, and the normal price has dropped something close to 20% in the last year alone.
