Latest news with #WesternDigital
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Argus Lowers WDC Price Target to $65, Maintains Buy on Growth Prospects
Argus recently lowered the price target on Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) to $65 from $88 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. Western Digital develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions. In an investor note, the analyst told investors that memory and data storage demand in the enterprise and cloud markets appeared to be growing, and Western Digital was positioned for solid top- and bottom-line growth across the remainder of FY25 and into FY26, though the advisory was adjusting its model to account for the SanDisk separation. The firm recently announced that it would take a significant step forward in enhancing shareholder value with a new $2 billion share repurchase program. Moreover, Cerabyte, a ceramic-based data storage solutions firm, recently announced a strategic investment from WDC. The partnership will accelerate the development of Cerabyte's ground-breaking ceramic data storage technology, designed to meet the growing demand for permanent accessible long-term data storage in existing and new use cases. While we acknowledge the potential of WDC, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WDC and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 33 Most Important AI Companies You Should Pay Attention To and 30 Best AI Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Nikkei Asia
6 days ago
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
Huawei's chemical push and Asia eyes Harvard talent
Hi everyone! This is Cheng Ting-Fang, your techAsia host for this week. I just got back to Taipei from a weekend trip to Singapore to take in the tropical sea views and a Lady Gaga concert -- and for a brief, refreshing break after the Computex trade fair. A news alert this month caught my eye: Zhao Weiguo, former chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup and a prominent figure in developing China's semiconductor industry, was handed a suspended death sentence for corruption. This news triggered a vivid memory of my meeting with Zhao years ago, held in a high-ceilinged meeting room furnished with leather chairs. I still remember the way he swaggered into the room and how he chain-smoked four or five cigarettes. During our hourlong conversation, I found myself surrounded by a haze of white smoke that blurred my eyes as he passionately shared his ambitions for turning China's chip industry into a global player. If Taiwan and South Korea can develop a competitive industry, he said, "China can, too. It just needs time." Tsinghua Unigroup spearheaded the establishment of many chip plants in Nanjing, Chengdu and Chongqing. Zhao himself not only inked a deal to acquire a stake in leading storage player Western Digital, but also announced his company was buying 25% stakes in three leading Taiwanese chip packaging houses. He also secured an investment from Intel for Tsinghua's mobile chip design unit, and even boasted that he would acquire top U.S. memory chipmaker Micron. However, none of Zhao's ambitions materialized before he came under investigation in 2022. Many chipmaking projects were simply scrapped due to a lack of tech and talent, and the Intel-linked venture was terminated. Some chip industry executives even suggested that Zhao's aggressive global shopping spree indirectly contributed to heightened global scrutiny of China's chip and tech ambitions. Such flamboyant aggression stands in stark contrast to the humble attitude of the chip engineers featured in the upcoming documentary "A Chip Odyssey." I attended an advance screening last week of the film, which is slated to go online in mid-June. It highlights Taiwan's semiconductor industry and the engineers who would go on to found the island's leading chipmakers: TSMC, UMC and MediaTek. They recounted Taiwan's transformation from an obscure, internationally isolated island into one of the world's top chip economies. The documentary is filled with people who spent decades working with quiet dedication, away from the spotlight. Indeed, a prevailing view in the chip industry has always been that action speaks louder than words and that success relies entirely on meticulous execution built on years of commitment, rather than flashy presentations or empty promises. However, humility and flawless execution alone are no longer enough to navigate the new challenges facing the chip industry, namely geopolitics and U.S. President Donald Trump. I recently spoke with Arthur Chiao, chairman of memory chipmaker Winbond, whose insights were quite illuminating. "Regionalization" and "customization," he said, will be crucial for securing business in this rapidly changing world. As such, his company's chip design affiliate, Nuvoton, is considering opening new design centers in Canada and India. When asked about the outlook for 2025, however, he had some more immediate advice. "There are some rush orders currently, and we are trying to enjoy this exact moment now. We truly don't know what will happen tomorrow or next month." The only thing to do for now, he added, is "live one day at a time!" Huawei's chemical romance Huawei is a prime example of a company quietly dedicating time and energy to developing cutting-edge technologies. Now, the Chinese tech giant is branching into a new area: chipmaking chemicals. The company, which the U.S. views as a security threat, is supporting a venture that aims to produce "end-to-end" solutions for vital materials and chemicals, Nikkei Asia's Cheng Ting-Fang reports. This includes making a push into the high-end photoresist market, which has long been dominated by Shin-Etsu, JSR and TOK of Japan. Photoresists are used in the process of printing integrated circuits, a key step in chip production. The new venture, called Zhuhai Cornerstone Technologies, has hired experienced professionals from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan over the past two years, and boasts production lines and R&D centers across China, including in Shenzhen and Zhuhai. Chip materials and chemicals need to be of the highest grade and purity, and are just as critical as chipmaking equipment in determining the overall quality of chip production. India investment Apple's main contractor in India is setting up a $1.5 billion component plant near Chennai, despite escalating criticism from President Donald Trump, who wants the company to make iPhones in the U.S., write the Financial Times's John Reed and Tim Bradshaw. Foxconn, which has assembled Apple's devices in India for years, is setting up a display module assembly unit a short drive from another plant in Tamil Nadu state where the Taiwanese company assembles iPhones. The investment would boost Apple's Indian operations, which assemble devices mostly from imported components. Tamil Nadu officials approved the 131.8 billion rupee ($1.5 billion) investment by Foxconn's Indian unit Yuzhan Technology India back in October -- before Trump was reelected -- saying the new display unit would create about 14,000 jobs. Foxconn last week announced a $1.5 billion investment in Yuzhan in a London Stock Exchange filing, but did not say what it was for. This is likely because Apple's pivot from China to India is so sensitive, due to Trump's tariff war and pressure on companies to "reshore" manufacturing back to America. A few hours after the FT's report, Trump threatened Apple and Samsung with 25% tariffs unless they shifted production to the U.S. Xiaomi dips into chips There are other newcomers to the chip war. Xiaomi, the top smartphone maker in China and third largest in the world, is designing its own smartphone chipsets, an area in which only a handful of players remain due to years of consolidation and massive investment. Founding Chairman Lei Jun said only with its own chips can Xiaomi be called a great tech company and touted its new chip as being on par with Apple's offerings. Xiaomi setting its sights on Apple is not the only example of U.S.-China rivalry in consumer tech. Tech giants in both countries, including Google, Microsoft, Alibaba and Tencent, have released a series of more powerful and efficient AI models. The key questions, however, may no longer be whose AI is more powerful, but whose is more useful, Nikkei Asia's Yifan Yu and Cissy Zhou write. The rise of AI agents -- digital assistants capable of performing complex tasks for users -- has become a focal point of the AI race, especially as investors become more anxious to see massive investments in chips and data infrastructure pay off. Asia eyes Harvard talent Many universities in Asia saw an unexpected opportunity to attract top global talent when the Trump administration took steps to dismantle Harvard University's ability to enroll international students, writes Nikkei Asia's Yifan Yu. Leading schools in the region, such as the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the University of Tokyo, quickly said that they were considering or open to enrolling Harvard students affected by the move. Adding to the uncertainty, the Trump administration is exploring the possibility of revoking international students' eligibility to seek employment in the U.S. after graduation. Given that Asian students accounted for more than 70% of all international students in the U.S. for the 2023-2024 academic year, these new policies could cause massive disruptions in the flow of global talent. Suggested reads 3. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang condemns US chip curbs on China as 'a failure' (FT) 4. Mitsubishi Electric weighs 'painful' exit from businesses worth $5.5bn (Nikkei Asia) 5. US wins if DeepSeek runs on American AI chips, Nvidia CEO says (Nikkei Asia) 8. (Nikkei Asia) 9. BYD price bombshell raises specter of wider China EV consolidation (Nikkei Asia) 10. Trump's Middle East dealmaking could reshape the global AI race (FT)
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
From Singapore to San Jose: Tech veteran Irving Tan rides AI wave in his latest role
[SINGAPORE] As chief executive of Western Digital, a major hard disk drive (HDD) maker, Irving Tan keeps a tight schedule. Splitting his time between Singapore and San Jose, Tan is up from about 4.30 am and starts work within the hour. He steers the company through 'extremely varied' issues, from discussions on tariffs and engineering roadmaps to setting out company values and engaging the media and investors. 'There's really no typical day, and that's one of the exciting things about the job. Through a 12-hour day, you toggle across many different things,' said Tan, who is also chairman of inflight caterer Sats. An engineer by training and a Lego enthusiast, he relishes problem-solving and having 'the mental ability to switch from one topic to the other'. Tan is this year's Outstanding Overseas Executive at the Singapore Business Awards. He has had a storied career in the global tech industry – including 13 years at US tech giant Cisco – and is still going strong. The 55-year-old rose to the helm of Western Digital in February, after the company spun off its flash business to focus on HDDs. Having been through many tech cycles, he is now riding the artificial intelligence (AI) wave – which he cites as a strong tailwind for the data storage industry. SEE ALSO Donald Trump is proving disastrous for Big Tech GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up VIEW ALL This is because AI is now being used to produce the very data that other AI models are trained on. For instance, an autonomous vehicle company can tap AI to create synthetic data on routes and landscapes, which can in turn train the AI model that powers the self-driving vehicle. 'And so for every model that's created, this data that gets generated needs to be stored. That's really fuelling the data generation and data storage industry,' he said. The rise of disruptors, such as China's DeepSeek, is a further boost. 'If you can make the cost of deploying AI lower, you can make it more pervasive. Again, more data gets generated, more data gets stored.' Formative experiences A mechanical engineering graduate from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Tan kicked off his career at energy company ExxonMobil as a graduate management trainee. The job not only taught him about a range of functions – such as finance, sales and marketing, and operations – but also provided him valuable insights. At one point, Tan grew frustrated with bureaucratic processes that did not add value, such as reports being created for their own sake and being left unread. He approached his manager. 'I was a young, idealistic, fresh graduate, and I used to complain to him: 'All these things are broken',' Tan recalled. The manager's response has stayed with him: 'Someday you'll be in a position to change that. Remember all the things that don't work well, and when you're in a position, make sure you go and fix it.' Fixing problems indeed turned out to be Tan's next career move. After earning a Masters of Business Administration degree from NTU, he joined consulting firm Kearney as a principal. Tan worked in Australia and across South-east Asia, tackling business challenges in industries ranging from energy to telcos to fast-moving consumer goods. 'It's either a transformation of a company or it's a growth agenda or something to create more value for their shareholders. It's always complex, large, enterprise-level problems, so I really enjoyed my time there,' he said. Tan later moved on to the tech world, with roles at Cisco and HP. At Cisco, he climbed the ranks for more than a decade to become the company's chief of operations, and eventually the chairman for Asia-Pacific, Japan and China. Being interviewed for a leadership role within Cisco turned out to be another formative experience. Former Cisco chief executive John Chambers asked Tan what he had failed at recently. 'I thought long and hard about it and I said: 'John, honestly I'm not trying to avoid the question – I can't think of anything',' Tan recalls. 'And his response actually left a very indelible mark on me, which I keep to today. He said: 'Well, that means you're not trying hard enough. We're going to give you a big role. We need to really push the envelope. And therefore I need you to fail. If you don't fail, it means you're not pushing the envelope'.' Taking the plunge Tan is now focused on pushing the envelope at Western Digital. Beyond the core HDD business, he is also pursuing moonshot projects that leverage Western Digital's deep technical expertise built over 55 years. 'We have a whole research team that specialises in material science, in electromagnetics, in servo-mechanical, firmware and semiconductor development. One of the things we're looking at is... are there new areas that we can apply this knowledge to?' One possibility the company is exploring is the application of its know-how in magnetic technology to the medical imaging industry, where there is interest in innovations such as reducing the size of scanners down to a probe. 'I want innovation to be at the heart of everything that we do so we can continue to modernise and transform,' said Tan. He acknowledged the challenges ahead. Asked about the risk of US-China tensions, Tan noted that Western Digital operates in a 'very dynamic' environment with a global supply chain. It has key customers in both China and the US and has to 'deal with the geopolitical dynamic'. 'We continue to work closely to support our customers in those markets and (work) with the various administrations in those countries as well to ensure that they see the value of the business that we're providing, enabling us to operate.' Even as the world gets complex, Tan sees rich learning opportunities in leading a global company. He credits his wife and two children, aged 17 and 19, with allowing him to pursue the opportunities he has thus far. Tan hopes that more young Singaporeans will take up corporate leadership roles outside the city-state. 'Singapore is a very comfortable place to live. It's a very safe place and so it's hard to leave. But there's a big ocean out there,' he said. 'There's a lot of experiences to be had, there's a lot of learning that you can get out of it. I will encourage them to take the plunge.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Western Digital Unveils Open Storage Innovations at Computex 2025
Western Digital Corporation WDC is driving a new era of storage innovation by advancing infrastructure solutions tailored for artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), software-defined storage (SDS) and disaggregated storage. With a focus on hyperscale cloud service providers (CSPs), enterprises and Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) vendors, the company's Platforms Business delivers both high-capacity JBODs (Just a Bunch of Disks) and high-performance EBOF (Ethernet Bunch of Flash) NVMe-oF solutions to power intensive data workloads. As AI and data-centric computing evolve, organizations are under increasing pressure to deploy scalable, efficient and sustainable storage systems. To address this demand, Western Digital has announced major enhancements to its Open Composable Compatibility Lab (OCCL), including the launch of OCCL 2.0, the Ultrastar Data102 ORv3 JBOD and the OpenFlex Data24 4100, which feature single-port SSDs and additional SSD qualifications for its OpenFlex Data24 NVMe-oF platform. Western Digital Corporation price-consensus-chart | Western Digital Corporation Quote At Computex, Western Digital introduced the OpenFlex Data24 4100 EBOF, designed for cloud environments using single-port SSDs and system-level mirroring. It joins the Data24 4000 series. The new Ultrastar Data102 3000 ORv3 JBOD, aligned with Open Rack v3 specifications, offers improved efficiency, airflow and manageability. Located in Colorado Springs, the OCCL is a vendor-neutral innovation hub designed to accelerate industry-wide adoption of open, fabric-attached storage and SDS solutions. OCCL 2.0 introduces new capabilities such as comprehensive solutions architecture guidance for deploying disaggregated infrastructure, best practice frameworks for maximizing storage efficiency and benchmarking tools for evaluating SSD partner performance. With these updates, OCCL 2.0 aims to deepen collaboration with ecosystem partners while helping customers reduce deployment risks, improve interoperability and build future-ready infrastructure. The lab continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the next generation of composable architectures, with a growing list of ecosystem collaborators that includes Arista Networks, Broadcom, DapuStor, Graid Technology, Ingrasys, Intel, Kioxia, MinIO, NVIDIA, OSNexus, PEAK:AIO, Phison, SanDisk, ScaleFlux, ThinkParQ/BeeGFS and Xinnor. As the industry moves away from proprietary models, Western Digital's OCCL 2.0 strengthens its leadership in creating flexible, open ecosystems that meet the performance, efficiency and scale demands of modern data infrastructure. Management expects the proliferation of generative AI-driven storage deployments to result in a client and consumer device refresh cycle and boost content growth in smartphone, gaming, PC and consumer in the long run. Increasing AI adoption is likely to drive increased storage demand across both HDD and Flash at the edge and core, thereby providing ample business opportunities. As demand grows, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) becomes key for AI servers, while NAND flash remains vital for storage, powering SSDs for text, images and videos. Gen AI adoption is driving eSSD sales due to its speed, reliability and efficiency over HDDs. Growing AI data boosts demand, fueling eSSD market growth and reshaping storage. Western Digital currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Shares of the company have lost 31.4% in the past year compared with the Zacks Computer- Storage Devices industry's decline of 31.5%. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are TaskUs, Inc. TASK, SAP SAP and Teradata Corporation TDC. TASK sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while SAP and TDC carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). TaskUs' earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 6.39%. In the last reported quarter, TASK delivered an earnings surprise of 18.75%. Its shares have soared 11.8% in the past year. SAP's earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 10.14%. In the last reported quarter, SAP delivered an earnings surprise of 8.63%. The company's long-term earnings growth rate is 10.2%. Its shares have surged 53.4% in the past year. Teradata's earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters with the average surprise being 24.63%. In the last reported quarter, TDC delivered an earnings surprise of 15.79%. Its shares have declined 31.1% in the past year. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Western Digital Corporation (WDC) : Free Stock Analysis Report SAP SE (SAP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Teradata Corporation (TDC) : Free Stock Analysis Report TaskUs, Inc. (TASK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Channel Post MEA
20-05-2025
- Business
- Channel Post MEA
Western Digital Displays Wide Range of Storage Solutions at Computex 2025
Western Digital is redefining what's possible in storage infrastructure for AI/ML, disaggregated storage and software-defined storage (SDS) for CSPs, enterprises and STaaS providers. From massive-capacity, reliable JBODs (Just a Bunch of Disks) to ultra-fast EBOF (Ethernet Bunch of Flash) NVMe-oF disaggregated storage solutions for AI, the company's Platforms Business delivers world-class HDD- and SSD-based solutions that power today's most demanding workloads. As AI, ML and data-heavy workloads continue to accelerate, organizations face growing pressure to build flexible storage infrastructures that are scalable, efficient and sustainable. Traditional systems may struggle to keep pace with modern demands. Giving customers the flexibility to scale and the freedom to avoid vendor lock-in, Western Digital is announcing the expansion of the company's Open Composable Compatibility Lab (OCCL); a new Ultrastar Data102 ORv3 JBOD and a OpenFlex Data24 4100 with single-port SSDs; as well as new SSD qualifications for its OpenFlex Data24 NVMe-oF storage platform. Open Lab. Smarter Infrastructure. OCCL 2.0 is Here. Western Digital's Open Composable Compatibility Lab (OCCL) in Colorado Springs accelerates industry-wide interoperability for fabric-attached devices and software-defined storage. Designed for CSPs and enterprise customers, the OCCL serves as a vendor-neutral proving ground to simulate real-world environments and workloads—providing critical insights into system compatibility, interoperability, energy efficiency, and performance optimization. For modern NVMe-oF architectures, OCCL provides testing across disaggregated compute, storage and networking to help customers scale more efficiently, reduce costs, and deploy with greater confidence. Key enhancements include: Solutions Architectures : OCCL 2.0 will generate detailed solutions architectures, offering guidance on deploying and managing composable disaggregated infrastructure effectively. : OCCL 2.0 will generate detailed solutions architectures, offering guidance on deploying and managing composable disaggregated infrastructure effectively. Disaggregated Storage Best Practices : OCCL 2.0 will highlight best practices for disaggregated storage, helping organizations to maximize efficiency and scalability. : OCCL 2.0 will highlight best practices for disaggregated storage, helping organizations to maximize efficiency and scalability. Industry Expertise : OCCL 2.0 will continue to be a source of thought leadership, sharing strategic insights and innovations in the field of composable infrastructure. : OCCL 2.0 will continue to be a source of thought leadership, sharing strategic insights and innovations in the field of composable infrastructure. SSD Partner Benchmarking: OCCL 2.0 will include comprehensive results from benchmarking tools to evaluate the performance of SSD partners, ensuring optimal storage solutions. These advancements will further solidify OCCL's role as a leading lab in the industry for creating partnerships with customers and suppliers, benchmarking for establishing architectural control points, and driving forward the adoption and implementation of new open ecosystems to replace proprietary architectures. OCCL 2.0 growing list of ecosystem participants include: Arista Networks, Broadcom, DapuStor, Graid Technology Inc., Ingrasys, Intel, Kioxia, MinIO, NVIDIA, OSNexus, PEAK:AIO, Phison, Sandisk, ScaleFlux, ThinkParQ Gmbh/BeeGFS, and Xinnor. New Product Enhancements for Cloud and Enterprise Workloads At Computex, Western Digital is also introducing the new OpenFlex Data24 4100 EBOF to its Data24 4000 series, complementing the already available Data24 4200 dual-port SSD model. The Data24 4100 is designed for cloud-like environments where high availability is not a primary requirement. It uses single-port SSDs where performance is optimized via a single connection to each SSD and redundancy is provided by mirroring the storage system. This new addition ensures that customers have access to the best options for optimizing their storage infrastructure. The Data24 4100 is expected to be available in CQ3 2025. The new Ultrastar Data102 3000 ORv3 JBOD is designed to meet the increasing data demands of cloud data centers. In alignment with the broader Open Compute Project (OCP) initiative, the Data 102 3000 ORv3 is designed to meet the Open Rack v3 (ORv3) specification, which focuses on rack design and power supply regulation. Complying with Rack Geometry Option 1, this future-ready solution is designed to deliver improved power efficiency, better airflow, and enhanced system manageability over the prior generation design. Additionally, the ORv3 version of the Ultrastar Data 102 3000 leverages common building blocks from the 3000 series such as controllers, enclosures, and Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs), and complies with FIPS 140-3 Level 3 and TAA standards, making it a robust and reliable choice for modern data centers. The Data 102 3000 is expected to be available in CQ4 2025. Flexibility and Choice: Now Qualifying Multiple SSD Vendors Western Digital's Platforms business now offers customers enhanced flexibility and choice in building their storage infrastructure. By supporting a multi-SSD vendor strategy, Western Digital has currently qualified SSDs with leading providers such as DapuStor, Kioxia, Phison, Sandisk and ScaleFlux with additional vendors in the qualification process. This approach empowers both Western Digital and its customers to leverage preferred suppliers while optimizing for performance, cost, and supply chain resilience. By qualifying multiple SSD vendors, Western Digital ensures that customers have access to the best possible options for their storage infrastructure, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and excellence in the industry. 'As workloads grow more complex and AI accelerates infrastructure demands, the future will be defined by those who can scale smarter, move faster, and deploy with confidence,' said Owais Mohammed, Sales Director, IMEA of Western Digital. 'With OCCL 2.0 and our latest Platform innovations, we're not just keeping up—we're setting the pace for what modern, disaggregated, and software-defined data centers can achieve. We remain deeply committed to enabling open, flexible architectures that empower customers to build scalable infrastructure tailored to their evolving data needs.' Meet Western Digital at Computex: Experience the Future of Data Infrastructure Visit Western Digital at Computex in Taipei. Find us at booth J1303a in Hall 1 Storage and Management Solutions at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from May 20-23. Western Digital's OpenFlex Data 24 NVMe-oF data storage platform, RapidFlex NVMe-oF controllers, Ultrastar Data102 hybrid storage platform and the Ultrastar Transporter will be on display. 0 0
