Seagate Technology PLC (STX) shares surged 5.07% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, building on an after-hours rally triggered by the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report. The data storage giant delivered results that handily beat Wall Street expectations, fueled by surging demand for high-capacity hard disk drives from cloud data center customers.

Seagate reported adjusted earnings of $5.71 per share, up from $2.59 a year ago and well above the $5.09 consensus estimate. Revenue climbed 48.5% year-over-year to $3.63 billion, surpassing the $3.49 billion analysts had forecast. The strong performance was driven by the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, as large cloud companies continue to build out the vast storage capacity required to support generative AI applications.

Looking ahead, Seagate issued first-quarter guidance that far exceeded Street expectations, forecasting revenue of $4.1 billion and adjusted earnings of $7.30 per share. CEO Dave Mosley attributed the momentum to "robust cloud data center demand and disciplined execution," adding that the company sees "durable long-term demand for mass capacity storage" as AI accelerates data generation and its value.