Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX) has unveiled a powerful new suite of 30TB hard drives that signals not only a leap in storage density but also a bold move to meet the soaring demands of edge-based AI deployment. Announced today, the new Exos® M and IronWolf® Pro drives, based on the company’s Mozaic 3+™ platform and powered by its advanced heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology, are immediately available across global distribution channels. With more than one million Mozaic-based drives shipped to date, Seagate is not simply keeping pace with storage demand—it is establishing itself as a front-runner in the next era of data infrastructure, where the fusion of AI, edge computing, and data sovereignty is fundamentally reshaping enterprise and hyperscale requirements.
The core message of this announcement isn’t just technological—it’s strategic. Seagate is positioning its 30TB offerings as indispensable tools in a landscape where data gravity is pulling infrastructure closer to the edge, and sovereign data laws are requiring localized data control in nearly 150 countries. According to Melyssa Banda, SVP of Edge Storage and Services at Seagate, this moment represents more than just an upgrade in hardware—it represents an alignment with how and where modern enterprises are unlocking value. As AI becomes embedded in everything from industrial automation to real-time fraud detection, storage must evolve from a passive repository into a resilient, high-throughput, edge-optimized system. This is precisely where Exos M and IronWolf Pro aim to deliver.
Analysts and industry voices echo Seagate’s urgency. IDC’s Ed Burns sees hyperscalers entering an “arms race” for AI infrastructure, where high-capacity HDDs, long viewed as utility-grade, now stand as critical enablers for foundational data. While flash still owns the performance crown in low-latency operations, hard drives like Seagate’s new 30TB Exos deliver unmatched areal density, energy efficiency, and total cost-of-ownership advantages—especially when deployed for storing training datasets, archival AI model versions, and vast logs of operational telemetry. The drives also align with sustainability imperatives, enabling higher data center density with reduced power and cooling footprints. In Burns’ words, Seagate’s HAMR-based roadmap “is poised to accelerate areal density growth rates” for years to come.
These technological shifts are grounded in the most tangible kind of demand: money and deployment. HPE estimates that on-prem AI infrastructure will grow at a staggering 90% CAGR, reaching $42 billion by 2027. Meanwhile, NVIDIA’s rebranding of data centers as “AI factories” reinforces the centrality of data as raw material for intelligence. In this context, storage isn’t an afterthought—it’s the bedrock of AI performance. Whether it’s retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) or inferencing at the edge, modern applications demand not just compute, but fast, local, scalable access to large, unstructured datasets.
Seagate’s IronWolf Pro 30TB targets precisely that edge-AI sweet spot. NAS systems, particularly those offered by QNAP and UGREEN, are rapidly evolving into local AI inferencing hubs. These are no longer dumb boxes for backup—they’re smart, data-centric platforms running LLMs, analyzing camera footage, or enabling autonomous manufacturing decisions. As QNAP’s Dhaval Panara notes, integrating IronWolf Pro enables “petabyte-scale, high-integrity storage” with the agility needed for RAG and localized LLMs. UGREEN echoes the same sentiment, highlighting that edge-based AI requires massive, stable storage platforms that don’t sacrifice performance under pressure.
From a market standpoint, the timing couldn’t be better. The global NAS market is projected to grow at over 17% CAGR through 2034, driven by the convergence of hybrid cloud, IoT, and AI. Seagate is clearly aiming to ride this wave, not by competing head-on with flash, but by positioning its large-capacity HDDs as the ideal complement—where latency tolerance meets the need for endurance and density. This is a story about architecture, not competition. In the emerging AI stack, hard drives still have a front-row seat, particularly where local storage must meet sovereignty, sustainability, and scale all at once.
Both the 30TB and 28TB versions of the Exos M and IronWolf Pro are now available through Seagate’s official online store and authorized global partners. With pricing set at $599.99 for the 30TB models and $569.99 for the 28TB, these drives are competitively placed to offer massive capacity gains at a per-terabyte cost far lower than equivalent SSDs. For organizations building out the AI edge—from industrial robotics to real-time content processing—Seagate has just handed them the most capacious tool in the box.
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