The article argues that Western Digital (WDC), which makes high-capacity hard disk drives for cloud computing companies, is an important but less-noticed part of AI infrastructure alongside Micron and Sandisk. A May customer survey found 87% of respondents prioritized expanding storage capacity and lowering total ownership costs, and 70% of those who knew their storage mix said hard drives made up more than half of their capacity. Western Digital has a roadmap for drives above 100 terabytes, and a 40-terabyte drive is undergoing customer qualification. For fiscal Q4, revenue was $3.75 billion, up 44% year over year; GAAP net income of $3.19 billion included a $2.05 billion gain tied to Sandisk, while adjusted net income was $1.38 billion, up 130%. The stock is up 105% so far this year.
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Keywords
WDCartificial intelligencedata centerscloud computing
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Related tickers and likely impact
NVDA
▲ Likely positiveNvidia
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Market cap | $5.2T |
| Close on 10/19/2026 | 217.09 |
| Change that session | +1.38% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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