EY and Huawei Jointly Launch the Future-proof Data Storage Power White Paper

[Shanghai, China, September 18, 2026] At the Data Storage Summit during HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, EY Strategy and Transactions and Huawei jointly launched the Future-Proof Data Storage Power White Paper. The white paper provides an in-depth analysis of future-proof data storage power from four perspectives: a new definition, new value, new benchmarks, and new pathways. It establishes future-proof data storage power as a digital cornerstone for the high-quality development of the intelligent economy, and explores how it is driving a paradigm shift in the storage industry, supporting AI innovation, and unlocking the potential of data.

EY and Huawei launch the Future-proof Data Storage Power White Paper

The global AI industry is rapidly evolving, with data becoming a critical foundation for AI development. High-quality data is now considered as important as computing power and models. Dr. Liang Ye, Strategy and Transactions Partner of EY, noted: "Over the past few years, the concept of data storage power has evolved from a niche term to a widely recognized concept, significantly raising market awareness. Today, the large-scale deployment of AI is creating new demands for data storage. By enabling a closed-loop process encompassing the generation, validation, accumulation, and reuse of high-quality data, data can generate greater value through circulation. As a result, future-proof data storage power continues to evolve, transforming storage from the end point of data into the starting point of intelligence."

The white paper provides a deep dive into future-proof data storage power.

• New definition: In the AI era, future-proof data storage power will evolve from being capacity-centric to unlocking data value. This encompasses five key capabilities, captured by the acronym STORE: Scale (elastic and large-scale storage), Throughput (ultra-fast data supply), Organization (knowledge accumulation and reuse), Resilience (omni-dimensional resilience), and Efficiency (highly sustainable and efficient operations). Together, these capabilities embody five principles: sufficient storage, fast supply, effective use, robust protection, and low consumption. These principles provide criteria for determining whether data storage is future-proof and capable of transforming data into intelligence.

• New value: The thriving future-proof data storage power industry will unlock cascading value across industries, the economy, and society. By creating value at the industrial level, it will stimulate economic growth and generate broader social benefits, improving people's livelihoods, promoting inclusive development, and accelerating the green transformation.

• New benchmarks: Based on the STORE capability model, a two-level metrics system for future-proof data storage power is established, covering both regional development and data center levels. New and enhanced core metrics include AI storage-compute configuration intensity, AI storage growth rate, AI storage patent share, GDP per storage unit, and data center storage capacity. Together, they provide a comprehensive basis for assessing the deployment and practical application of data storage power.

• New pathways: Driven by three key factors—policy frameworks, industry collaboration, and technological innovation—new pathways advance the co-creation of a new ecosystem for future-proof data storage power in the AI era.

As AI accelerates globally, enterprises' demands for data storage power have long surpassed the boundaries of traditional storage. Huawei was the first to propose and define future-proof data storage power and has continued to enrich its meaning. Yuan Yuan, President of Huawei Data Storage Product Line, commented: "Today, the release of the brand-new Future-proof Data Storage Power White Paper will further strengthen industry consensus and accelerate the adoption of future-proof data storage power for the AI era across regions and enterprises, worldwide. It will help transform data and technological strengths into industrial advantages and sustained momentum for development, opening a new chapter in the intelligent era."