Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX)

Seagate reported fiscal first quarter 2027 revenue of $4,233 million for the quarter ended 2 October 2026, against $2,629 million a year earlier 1. Gross margin, the share of revenue left after production costs, was 57.3 percent on a GAAP basis 1. Net income was $1,761 million, or $7.59 per diluted share 1.

Revenue grew $1.6 billion from the year-earlier quarter, the company says, primarily because of favorable pricing actions and more nearline exabytes shipped, which are the high-capacity drives cloud customers use 2. In all it shipped 220 exabytes in the quarter 2.

Operations produced $1.7 billion, about $1.2 billion of debt was retired, and $568 million went back to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases 1. After the quarter another $750 million of principal was retired, leaving gross debt at $1.6 billion 1.

For the fiscal second quarter 2027 the company guided to revenue of $4.8 billion, plus or minus $100 million, and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $9.20, plus or minus $0.20 1. The open question is how long demand and pricing last: chief executive Dave Mosley pointed to a strengthening demand environment and a multi-year growth phase 1.

Seagate describes itself as a provider of mass-capacity data storage and says its products have served customers for nearly 50 years 3. Its core product is the hard disk drive (HDD), which the annual report calls a foundational technology for scalable, energy-efficient storage 3.

On 31 August 2022 Seagate cut its outlook for the September 2022 quarter to revenue of $2.1 billion, plus or minus $100 million, from $2.5 billion, plus or minus $150 million 9. Mosley blamed customer inventory corrections and more cautious buying by enterprise and cloud customers 9.

Blocks & Files reported on 26 October 2022 that Seagate announced about 3,000 layoffs, 8 percent of its workforce, after revenue dived 35 percent to $2.04 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 7. The company blamed global macro factors and customers running down disk drive inventories instead of buying new drives 7. It expected annualized savings of $110 million 7.

In April 2023 two Seagate subsidiaries settled with the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security over drive sales to Huawei between 17 August 2020 and 29 September 2021 2. Seagate agreed to pay $300 million in quarterly installments of $15 million over five years from 31 October 2023 2.

On 23 April 2024 Seagate sold the design and manufacture of its SoC (system on a chip) products to a Broadcom subsidiary 3. Total consideration was $600 million, including $560 million in cash at close 3.

On 21 January 2025 Seagate said its Exos M drives, built on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), had been adopted by a leading cloud provider and were ramping up 5. A 36TB model was sampling with select customers 5.

On 31 March 2025 Seagate completed the purchase of Intevac, a supplier of thin-film processing systems, for total consideration of $119 million 3. The annual report says the deal fits its strategy to integrate important components and manufacturing processes 3.

In fiscal 2026 revenue rose about 34 percent, or $3.1 billion, to $12,195 million, primarily on more nearline exabytes shipped and favorable pricing actions 3. Net income was $3,184 million against $1,469 million a year before 3.

Gross margin rose 11 percentage points to 46 percent, driven by pricing actions and a shift to higher-capacity products 3. Seagate shipped 789 exabytes, against 595 in the prior year 3.

A securities class action also reached a settlement in principle on 3 April 2026 for a total of $175 million, about $70 million of it paid by insurers 3. Seagate recorded a $105 million charge in fiscal 2026 3.

Hard drives for data centers

Seagate designs and makes HDDs, storage systems and related solutions for two markets: Data Center and Edge / Internet of Things (Edge IoT) 3. The Data Center line includes HDDs of up to 44TB and storage systems of up to 3.5PB, sold mainly to cloud providers, equipment makers, distributors and enterprises 3.

Data Center was 81 percent of revenue in the September 2026 quarter, and OEMs (the equipment makers that build Seagate drives into their own products) were 81 percent of sales by channel 2.

Mozaic and HAMR

Mozaic is Seagate's disk platform built on HAMR, and Seagate designs and makes the laser it uses 8. On 3 March 2026 Seagate said Mozaic 4+ drives of up to 44TB were qualified and in production with two hyperscale cloud providers and shipping in volume 8.

Seagate says it is scaling from today's 4+TB per disk toward 10TB per disk, which would allow drives of up to 100TB 8. Broader availability is planned as production scales, the release says 8.

Tom's Hardware reviewed the Exos M 30TB on 6 September 2025 and called it a bold step forward for single-drive capacity 6. It also said the technology sometimes feels like more of the same 6.

The review priced the 28TB and 30TB models at $569.99 and $599.99, about $20 per terabyte 6. It called 30TB the largest hard drive the outlet had tested 6.

Tom's Hardware wrote in January 2025 that the 36TB drive was likely to use shingled recording (SMR), a format large cloud providers already know how to manage 5.

Edge IoT and consumer drives

The Edge IoT line spans 1TB to 32TB drives for network-attached storage, video, gaming, personal computing and backup 3. Edge IoT was 19 percent of revenue in the September 2026 quarter, and retailers were 4 percent of sales by channel 2.

Where the revenue comes from

By the place the customer is billed from, Singapore made up $1,971 million of September 2026 quarter revenue, the United States $1,793 million and the Netherlands $469 million 2. Three customers accounted for 18 percent, 16 percent and 10 percent of receivables at 3 July 2026 3.

Plants and people

Component, subassembly and final assembly work is done in China, Malaysia, Northern Ireland, Singapore, Thailand and the United States 3. Recording heads are made at Springtown in Northern Ireland and in Minnesota, media in Woodlands in Singapore, and drives at Wuxi in China and Korat in Thailand 3.

Seagate employed about 30,000 full-time staff at 3 July 2026, about 25,000 of them in Asia 3. Dave Mosley has been chief executive since October 2017 and board chair since October 2025 3.

Gianluca Romano is chief financial officer, Ban Seng Teh chief commercial officer and John Morris chief technology officer 3.

Rivals and current problems

The annual report names Western Digital and Toshiba as its HDD rivals, along with makers of NAND flash, the memory used in solid-state drives 3.

Lambeth Magnetic Structures sued over a patent in 2016, and on 17 September 2025 an appeals court vacated Seagate's win and sent the case back for a new trial 3. Seagate says the claims lack merit 3.

In Seagate's own antitrust case against suspension-assembly suppliers, the Ninth Circuit on 8 January 2026 let its claims proceed 3. The supplier NHK has asked the Supreme Court to review 3.

Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 filed a patent suit against Seagate in Delaware on 15 March 2024 3.

The umbrella, in words

Seagate lists its marks as Seagate, LaCie, MACH.2 and Mozaic, among others 3. Seagate is an Irish public limited company 2.

Exhibit 21.1 of the annual report lists subsidiaries in Ireland, Singapore, Cayman, Malaysia, Thailand, China, the Netherlands and elsewhere 4. They include Seagate Technology (Thailand) Limited, Seagate Technology International (Wuxi) Company Limited and Lyve Data Solutions (India) Private Limited 4.

Intevac is owned outright: Seagate completed the acquisition on 31 March 2025, and Exhibit 21.1 lists Intevac Pacific Group Holdings and Intevac Malaysia among subsidiaries 34.

Seagate owned or leased about 9.8 million square feet of space at 3 July 2026 3. Its ordinary shares trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under STX, with about 406 holders of record at 31 July 2026 3.

The annual report leaves large-holder detail to the proxy statement and names no founder or special share class that controls the votes 3.

For the fiscal second quarter 2027 the company expects revenue of $4.8 billion, plus or minus $100 million, and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $9.20, plus or minus $0.20 1.

The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, payable on 7 January 2027 to holders of record on 23 December 2026 1.

For fiscal 2027 the annual report says capital spending is expected to be higher than fiscal 2026, within a target range of 4-6 percent of revenue, to support the volume ramp of HAMR drives 3. Equipment commitments were $465 million at 3 July 2026, with about $375 million due within a year 3.

Seagate says additional customer qualifications of Mozaic 4+ are under way and broader availability is planned as production scales 8. Its stated roadmap runs from 4+TB per disk toward 10TB per disk 8.

Seagate cites an IDC forecast that the global datasphere grows at about 27 percent a year through 2030 to around 718 zettabytes annually 3. The company says it believes this supports rising demand for mass-capacity storage 3.

On the legal calendar, a final approval hearing on the securities class action settlement is set for 17 November 2026 3. Seagate must still pay $15 million each quarter under the BIS settlement through its five-year term 2.

Mosley said Seagate believes its HAMR roadmap lets it address growing exabyte demand through areal density gains while maintaining supply discipline 1. He added that the company believes it can deliver profitable growth, strong cash generation and increased shareholder returns over the long term 1.

The quarterly report says the company believes its pricing strategy and supply discipline, with long-term customer engagements, give greater visibility into future demand trends 2.

Seagate retired a further $750 million of principal after the quarter and had $4.4 billion left under its share repurchase authorization at 2 October 2026 12.