[April 17, 2012]

Seagate Technology Reports Fiscal Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results

Seagate Technology (News - Alert) plc (NASDAQ:STX) today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 30, 2012. The company reported revenue of $4.4 billion, gross margin of 37%, net income of $1.1 billion and diluted earnings per share of $2.48. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported net income of $1.2 billion and diluted earnings per share of $2.64.

The company generated approximately $938 million in cash from operations, paid cash dividends of $112 million and used approximately $1.1 billion to repurchase 43.1 million shares of common stock and for the early retirement of debt.

For a detailed reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables.

"Seagate delivered strong performance this quarter by concentrating our efforts toward supporting our customers as the recovery of the hard drive industry continues to progress," said Steve Luczo (News - Alert), Chairman, President and CEO. "Importantly, during this challenging period, Seagate has successfully transitioned its portfolio to industry-leading products across all markets thereby positioning the company for continued leadership through operational excellence."

Dividend

The Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, which will be payable on May 17, 2012 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 2, 2012. The payment of any future quarterly dividends will be at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent upon Seagate's financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

Investor Communications

Seagate management will hold a public webcast to review its third fiscal quarter today at 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time on its Investor Relations website at www.seagate.com/investors. During today's conference call, the company will provide an outlook for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 and its view of the remainder of the calendar year, including key underlying assumptions. Seagate is planning an investor and analyst meeting on September 21, 2012 to discuss the Company's longer-term strategic plan.

Seagate has issued a Supplemental Commentary document. The Supplemental Commentary will not be read during today's call, but rather it is available in the investors section of seagate.com.

Conference Call

The conference call can be accessed online at http://www.seagate.com/investors.

Replay

A replay will be available beginning today at approximately 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time at www.seagate.com/investors.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate is the world leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at www.seagate.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, in particular, statements about our plans, strategies and prospects and estimates of industry growth for the fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2012 and beyond. These statements identify prospective information and include words such as "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "projects" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this press release. Current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors may be beyond the Company's control. In particular, the uncertainty in global economic conditions continues to pose a risk to the Company's operating and financial performance as consumers and businesses may defer purchases in response to tighter credit and financial news. Such risks and uncertainties also include, but are not limited to, the impact of the variable demand and adverse pricing environment for disk drives, particularly in view of current business and economic conditions; dependence on the Company's ability to successfully qualify, manufacture and sell its disk drive products in increasing volumes on a cost-effective basis and with acceptable quality, particularly the new disk drive products with lower cost structures; the impact of competitive product announcements; and possible excess industry supply with respect to particular disk drive products; the Company's ability to achieve projected cost savings in connection with restructuring plans; the risk that we will incur significant incremental costs in connection with our recently executed transaction with Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Samsung") or that we will not achieve the benefits expected from such transaction; and significant disruption to the industry supply chain due to the severe flooding throughout parts of Thailand. Information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements is contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Form 10-K/A as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 17, 2011 and August 24, 2011 respectively, and in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 25, 2012 which statements are incorporated into this press release by reference. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any subsequent date and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made.

Use of non-GAAP financial information

To supplement the condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the Company provides non-GAAP measures of net income and diluted net income per share, which are adjusted from results based on GAAP to exclude certain expenses, gains and losses. These non-GAAP financial measures are provided to enhance the user's overall understanding of the Company's current financial performance and its prospects for the future. Specifically, the Company believes non-GAAP results provide useful information to both management and investors as these non-GAAP results exclude certain expenses, gains and losses that the Company believes are not indicative of its core operating results and because it is consistent with the financial models and estimates published by financial analysts who follow the Company.

These non-GAAP results are some of the primary measurements management uses to assess the Company's performance, allocate resources and plan for future periods. Reported non-GAAP results should only be considered as supplemental to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and not considered as a substitute for, or superior to, GAAP results. These non-GAAP measures may differ from the non-GAAP measures reported by other companies in the Company's industry.

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