"The Information Minister outlines his plan to sustain the country�s tech lead -- As its domestic IT markets grow increasingly saturated, and competition from neighboring countries stiffens, South Korea stands at a dangerous juncture: find a way to sustain its lead, or watch the work of two decades fall by the wayside. That�s why Daeje Chin, the South Korean Minister of Information and Communication, spent the week schlepping around the San Francisco Bay Area. He touted South Korea�s �ubiquitous information society� and met with Silicon Valley companies. More than anything, he looked for foreign capital that could jump-start his country�s flat-lining industries. South Korea has one of the most advanced IT industries in the world, boasts top cell phone adoption rates, and leads the globe with 75 percent broadband penetration."
The worldwide external enterprise storage systems market reached a key point in the first quarter of 2026, and the implications for organizations running Applied-AI initiatives are impossible to ignore. IDC's latest market study reveals that systems grew 22.7 percent year-over-year to $9.2 billion, a dramatic acceleration from the 3.9 percent full-year 2025 growth rate. For enterprise leaders who have spent the past two years prioritizing GPU clusters and server infrastructure while treating storage as a secondary consideration, this data should serve as actionable guidance. The storage bottleneck in AI deployment is no longer theoretical, and the market dynamics now unfolding will directly shape the cost, timeline, and architectural viability of AI programs through at least 2027. Storage Systems Market Development The first quarter of 2026 produced several milestones that demand the attention of any organization with active or planned AI infrastructure investments. All Flash Array...