Seagate, a leading data storage company, is working on developing a 100-terabyte hard drive by 2030, according to BS Teh, the company’s chief commercial officer. This new drive would have approximately three times the capacity of Seagate’s current top-of-the-line hard drives.
Current Capacity and Future Plans
The largest hard disk drive Seagate currently produces is the 36-terabyte Exos M model, launched in January. Teh expressed confidence in the demand for the new 100-terabyte drive, stating, “You may be thinking, ‘Who would need it?’ Well, plenty.” He emphasized that the increased storage capacity is crucial for meeting the growing demands of the AI industry.
AI and Data Storage Demand
The rise of AI models developed by companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google has significantly increased the demand for data storage. These models require vast amounts of data for training and improving their outputs. Microsoft, for example, plans to spend $80 billion on data centers in its fiscal year ending June 2025.
Environmental Concerns
The growing demand for data centers has raised environmental concerns due to their significant power requirements. A single ChatGPT query uses approximately 2.9 watt-hours of electricity, nearly 10 times that of a typical Google search. Seagate is addressing these concerns by increasing storage density on its hard drives and transitioning its manufacturing to renewable energy.
Sustainable Manufacturing
Teh explained that Seagate focuses on sustainable manufacturing practices and designing products with lower power consumption per terabyte. “We design [our products] to have lower power per terabyte, or to have higher density of the device itself, such that when you actually integrate that product into your data center, you require less space, less power, less everything,” he said.
Competition from Other Technologies
While Seagate faces competition from other storage technologies like solid-state drives (SSDs), Teh argues that hard disk drives are more sustainable in terms of embodied carbon. SSDs store data electronically using flash memory chips, whereas hard disk drives use magnetic platters.
