Seagate is developing the second generation of HAMR technology
Seagate introduced its product and technology roadmap at the beginning of this year, expecting to launch a 50TB hard drive before 2026, a 100TB hard drive before 2030, and a 120TB hard drive at the beginning of the next decade. In order to achieve the goal of increasing capacity, Seagate plans to use multi-actuator (Mach.2) technology and heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology more widely.
According to SeekingAlpha, recently, Seagate’s Chief Financial Officer Gianluca Romano said at the 2021 Global Virtual Technology Conference that its hard disks using heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology had been shipped as early as December last year and were provided to Seagate’s major customers. Seagate is currently developing the second-generation HAMR technology, and the capacity of the new hard drive may be increased to about 30TB.
However, Gianluca Romano did not disclose when the hard disk using the second-generation HAMR technology will be launched. According to the previous product and technology roadmap plan, it may be between 2023 and early 2024.
At this stage, Seagate’s 20TB hard drives using HAMR technology will not be retailed, mainly for data centers that use large-capacity mechanical hard drives. Many of these operators are not afraid to adopt new technologies. For the time being, ordinary consumers can only buy hard drives with a capacity of 18TB at most. About two months ago, Seagate CEO Dave Mosley stated on the company’s earnings conference call with analysts and investors that it is expected that products using SMR/PMR+Mach.2 technology will be available in the second half of this year.
