Seagate announced this week that it has begun shipping over 30 terabyte hard drives based on its heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology to one of its cloud data center clients. The drive is a final certified sample, but the company expects to recognize revenue from the sale of his HAMR-based Corvault system in the coming weeks.
Dave says: Seagate Chief Executive Officer Mosley (via) on an earnings call with analysts and investors earlier this week. Seeking Alpha).
Recognizing revenue means that the actual hardware (Corvault storage systems based on 30 TB or larger HAMR HDDs) has been tested, purchased and shipped by Seagate and (a) certified by Seagate’s customers. I mean Seagate recognizes the money received as revenue as soon as the qualification is completed.
Seagate has high hopes for HAMR technology and has sent HAMR-based hard drives to selected customers for evaluation. In a recent earnings call, the company announced plans to release the second generation of his HAMR platform with mainstream hard drives in the third quarter.
Seagate doesn’t provide much information about the original HAMR platform, such as how many platters it can accommodate. Nevertheless, with over 30 TB storage capabilities, the company offers customers unprecedented storage density in his 3.5-inch HDD. The company is aware that the percentage of HAMR-based hard drives will be modest this year, but that percentage could increase as the efficiency of HAMR media and HAMR heads improves.
Initially, Seagate will use HAMR disks and heads to create ultra-premium, high-capacity nearline drives for hyperscale cloud data centers. However, this new media and heads will be incorporated into mid-range and entry-level high-capacity HDDs to reduce manufacturing costs and increase company profitability.
Seagate, on the other hand, has not provided any guidance on how quickly nearline and other drives will transition to HAMR, but the company plans to step up production in 2024.
“There are so many other dynamics that I don’t know if we can really break it based on the move to HAMR at this point,” added Mosley. “But we are aggressively filling pipelines full of product and working on yields and scrap that need to be cut.”
