Western Digital(US:WDC) 硬AI·2026-01-30 12:45Core Insights - Western Digital's gross margin surged to 46.1%, with incremental gross margin expectations reaching 75% due to price increases and cost reductions [2][4][35] - CEO Irving Tan announced that 2026 production capacity is sold out, with long-term agreements signed with three of the top five customers extending to 2027-2028 [4][10][12] - The demand for HDDs is expected to grow structurally driven by AI inference applications, which generate vast amounts of new data that require low-cost storage [2][18][20] Financial Performance - In Q2 of FY2026, Western Digital reported revenue of $3.02 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.13, both exceeding market expectations [3][4] - Net profit for the quarter reached $1.84 billion, or $4.73 per share, marking a 210% increase from $594 million ($1.27 per share) in the same quarter last year [4][35] - The company delivered 215 exabytes of data, a 22% year-over-year increase, including over 3.5 million units of the latest generation ePMR drives [33][34] Margin and Cost Dynamics - The gross margin improvement reflects a shift towards high-capacity drives and strict cost control across manufacturing and supply chains [35] - CFO Kris Sennesael confirmed that the incremental margin is around 75%, driven by a 2-3% increase in average selling price per terabyte and a 10% year-over-year decrease in manufacturing costs per terabyte [7][8][43] Long-term Agreements and Customer Relationships - Western Digital has secured all firm purchase orders for 2026 from its top seven customers and signed long-term agreements with three of the top five customers, indicating strong customer trust and recognition of value [10][12][46] - The long-term agreements include both pricing and quantity terms, reflecting a strategic approach to managing customer relationships in a tight supply environment [13][63] Technology and Market Trends - The company is accelerating the customer validation timeline for HAMR (Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording) technology by six months due to supply pressures [17][56] - The transition from AI model training to inference applications is expected to create significant storage demand, benefiting HDDs as data centers return large amounts of inference data to HDDs [18][20][59] Future Outlook - For Q3 FY2026, Western Digital expects revenue of $3.2 billion, reflecting approximately 40% year-over-year growth, with gross margin projected between 47% and 48% [38] - The company continues to focus on supporting customer needs for exabyte-scale storage while completing the certification and release of next-generation ePMR and HAMR drives [30][38]