Seagate will build its newly announced 30TB drives with help from Sony, which will supply the necessary laser diodes.

Seagate announced in January that it would ship 30TB hard drives this quarter. These hard drives are based on Seagate’s so-called Mozaic 3+ platform, which includes HAMR technology.

The hard drive maker has now teamed up with Sony, which will supply the advanced laser diodes for HAMR. HAMR stands for Heat-assisted magnetic recording. The heat for this comes from very precise lasers that are part of the writing head. Because this component is so important, Seagate is now looking to Sony as an additional supplier.

Safe investment

For this to happen, Sony has to be ahead. The company will invest 33 million to modernize the laser diode production facilities. Sony is relatively confident that its investment will pay off. The amount of data continues to increase worldwide and with it the need for storage. HAMR drives are capable of storing a massive capacity of bits and bytes in the classic 3.5-inch form factor, allowing data centers to add more storage without increasing their footprint. Demand for the drives seems assured, as does Sony’s interest.

Seagate itself also has big plans. If the 30 TB drives roll off the assembly line without any problems, a further increase in capacity is planned. The plan is for 40 TB within a few years and the roadmaps even speak of 100 TB in a 3.5-inch drive by 2030.