Irving Tan said hyperscalers are seeking multi-year capacity agreements as the post-SanDisk HDD business beat quarterly estimates and guided first-quarter revenue to $4.0 billion to $4.2 billion.
Western Digital said AI customers are already negotiating long-term storage agreements covering 2029 through 2031, giving the company strong visibility into future exabyte demand as hyperscalers continue building AI infrastructure. The comments add to a quarter in which the post-SanDisk HDD business reported $3.747 billion in revenue, up from $2.605 billion a year earlier, with cloud customers contributing 89% of sales, while adjusted earnings of $3.56 a share and revenue of about $3.75 billion both topped Wall Street estimates. GAAP results were further lifted by a $2.05 billion mark-to-market gain on Western Digital's retained SanDisk stake, helping drive GAAP earnings per share to $8.21, GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to the company to $3.195 billion and non-GAAP net income to $1.382 billion. Western Digital forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.85 to $4.15 a share on $4.0 billion to $4.2 billion in revenue, above consensus at the midpoint, and the stock was reported as closing 5.36% lower at $519.17 before falling another 16.73% in premarket trading.