Western Digital Corp at Citi Global TMT Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Great. Thank you, David. Thank you, Wissam. So I'm going to jump right into it. I think top of mind is the spin that you guys have been talking to investors about. Maybe for those in the room, just a quick recap on the strategic routes now for spinning out the two businesses and what should investors focus on as you look at these businesses individually?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : The question I've been asked about Kioxia, that's your partner for the Flash, they're going through some kind of an IPO on their own. Does that have any changes or any impacts to the JV?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : All right. Great. Question about end demand. As you sit here in calendar third quarter, maybe if you can think about how you think the end demand across the various client, cloud, consumer businesses changed, let's say relative to where you guys were 6 to 12 months ago. And when you think about your end demand going forward, what are some puts and takes to your end demand outlook?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Fair enough. Digging into the Flash business, maybe first, David, people are really nervous here about Flash pricing, what's going on there. If you've just started -- if you're just starting to get recovery here, why is Flash pricing, maybe across certain end markets, not doing as well? So you could just dial down on that one.

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Good. All right. Talking about the end demand, the question obviously, especially as it relates to PCs and smartphones that you talked about, is AI really an incremental driver for maybe additional NAND bits in each of those end markets?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : All right. And then the data center, switching to eSSDs, I know it's a growing part of your business and you've talked about it being at least double digits for the fiscal '25. So maybe you can just remind investors what are your current offerings there? How are you thinking about growing share in that business? And where are you seeing traction specifically as you're growing that business?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : A little bit on the node transitions, when you talk about the Flash business, where are you in the node transitions maybe, if you can double click on that? And how does that affect your market share positioning, or does it introduce any kind of risk to meeting demand?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Okay. I can switch a little bit maybe to the HDD side of the business now. You've talked about demand drivers here for near-line cloud customers. Just a little bit on visibility, how do you find -- how do you feel about visibility in that end market? And then people often ask this question, is AI really an incremental driver for HDD side of the business? I know we talked about Flash a little bit, but maybe help us understand why you think AI is incremental for HDDs as well.

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Okay. All right. And then I guess, there's always concerns about our customers, how close you are to their order patterns. Is there potential any kind of double ordering going on there? I know we touched a little bit on that last night, but if you could just expand it over here for the broader audience.

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Fair enough.

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Okay. Last five minutes, I'm going to ask the audience if they have any questions. (Event Instructions) Any questions from the audience? We have a question here, please. Unidentified Participant Can you talk a little bit about the capital structure planning process for the two spin companies or the split-up of the company?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Any other questions from the audience? We have one more. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 04, 2024 / 11:30AM, WDC.OQ - Western Digital Corp at Citi Global TMT Conference Unidentified Participant Can you talk about the HAMR technology and then the timeline in your roadmap?

Question: Asiya Merchant - Citi Investment Research (US) - Analyst : Right. Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 04, 2024 / 11:30AM, WDC.OQ - Western Digital Corp at Citi Global TMT Conference