Summary of Western Digital Conference Call Company Overview - **Company**: Western Digital (NasdaqGS: WDC) - **Event**: Goldman Sachs Communicopia and Technology Conference - **Date**: September 10, 2025 Key Industry Insights - **Demand-Supply Dynamics**: The demand environment is strong and improving, with a misconception about a significant demand-supply imbalance. Supply is tight, but Western Digital believes it can meet demand effectively [6][9] - **Growth Forecast**: The storage business is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% to 23% from 2024 to 2028, driven by AI advancements [7] - **Areal Density**: Growth will primarily come from increasing areal density rather than unit capacity. Current average capacity is around 21-22 terabytes per unit, with plans to increase to 36 and eventually 44 terabytes [8][12] Pricing and Market Conditions - **Stable Pricing Environment**: The average selling price (ASP) per terabyte has remained stable, with fluctuations of about ±1% over recent quarters. Long-term agreements (LTAs) with major customers provide visibility into pricing stability [13][14] - **Customer Commitments**: Four out of five largest customers have purchase orders for all of fiscal 2026, indicating strong demand and pricing stability [14] Competitive Landscape - **HDD vs. SSD**: Approximately 80% of installed storage capacity is hard disk drives (HDD), with HDDs being six times lower in acquisition cost and 3.6 times lower in total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to SSDs. Both HDD and SSD markets are growing [19][20][21] - **Market Share**: Western Digital is focused on customer relationships rather than market share, emphasizing quality and reliability in their products [22][23] Technology and Product Development - **EPMR and HAMR Technologies**: Ultra-SMR technology accounts for 40-45% of nearline shipments, expected to rise to 50% by the end of 2025. The next generation of EPMR is set for qualification in 2026, with HAMR technology ramping in 2027 [24][25][28][30] - **Quality Assurance**: Emphasis on ensuring quality and reliability before ramping up production of new technologies [27][30] Financial Performance - **Revenue Composition**: Cloud business constitutes approximately 90% of total revenue, while client and consumer segments account for about 10%. The latter is expected to grow but at a slower rate than cloud [33] - **Gross Margins**: Current gross margins are in the low 40s, with potential for further improvement driven by stable pricing, cost reductions, and a favorable product mix [37][38][39] - **Debt and Capital Return**: The company has a net debt of $2.6 billion with a target leverage ratio of 1 to 1.5. Plans for capital return include a dividend program and a $2 billion share buyback initiative [48][50] Strategic Outlook - **Long-term Growth**: Western Digital is positioned well for future growth, particularly in the AI and data-centric cloud markets, with strong customer engagements and a focus on technological advancements [32][34][43]

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - In Q3 2025, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) reported revenue of $9.1 billion, an increase of 18% year over year, driven by strong performance in AI, networking, and hybrid cloud [8][28] - Non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share were $0.44, towards the high end of the guided range of $0.40 to $0.45 [31] - Free cash flow was $790 million, significantly improved due to better inventory management and strong supply chain execution [9][39] Business Segment Data and Key Metrics Changes - The networking segment generated revenue of $1.7 billion, up 54% year over year, benefiting from the acquisition of Juniper Networks [12][32] - Server revenue reached an all-time high of $4.9 billion, increasing 16% year over year, with AI systems revenue also at a record $1.6 billion, up 25% year over year [16][35] - Hybrid cloud revenue was $1.5 billion, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth [20][36] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Demand for AI systems saw a nearly 100% increase in orders quarter over quarter, with sovereign opportunities up approximately 250% [10][35] - The cumulative orders for AI systems since Q1 2023 now account for more than 50% of total net orders [10] - The networking market recovery is evident, with strong demand in campus and branch segments, driven by Wi-Fi 7 and data center switching [12][32] Company Strategy and Development Direction - HPE aims to lead in the AI era with a modern, secure, cloud-native, and AI-driven networking portfolio [24] - The integration of Juniper Networks is expected to enhance profitability and capture synergies, with at least $600 million in cost synergies anticipated over the next three years [16][27] - The company is focused on executing its Catalyst program to improve operational efficiency and simplify its portfolio [9][39] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management expressed confidence in the strong demand across all business segments and noted that the market remains robust despite evolving conditions [26][95] - The company anticipates continued growth in AI and networking, with a focus on integrating Juniper's offerings to enhance market position [24][62] - HPE expects revenue growth of 14% to 16% for FY 2025, incorporating contributions from Juniper Networks [42] Other Important Information - HPE's annualized recurring revenue run rate was reported at $3.1 billion, up 75% year over year [28] - The company has shipped over 5,000 Alletra MP arrays, indicating strong growth in its storage portfolio [21] - HPE's cash conversion cycle was positive 35 days, with expectations for improvement in Q4 due to a full quarter of Juniper's financials [40][41] Q&A Session Summary Question: Insights on server margin profile post-acquisition - Management confirmed that traditional server margins have returned to historical levels around 10% to 12%, with expectations for continued improvement in Q4 [48][51] Question: Early integration progress and market opportunities post-Juniper acquisition - Management highlighted strong early performance in networking segments and integration efforts, with a focus on leveraging combined strengths to capture market opportunities [57][59] Question: Future growth rates for combined networking business - Management expressed confidence in exceeding market growth rates, with a strategic focus on integrating Juniper and Aruba offerings to enhance customer solutions [78][80] Question: Customer feedback and market growth opportunities - Management noted robust customer demand and consistent order linearity, indicating a healthy market environment for HPE's core offerings [95]

Core Insights - Dell Technologies (DELL) reported non-GAAP earnings of $2.32 per share for Q2 fiscal 2026, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.43% and reflecting a 19% year-over-year increase [1] - Revenues for the quarter reached $29.78 billion, also surpassing consensus estimates by 1.56%, with a year-over-year growth of 19%, primarily driven by record AI server shipments [1][8] - Following the earnings announcement, DELL shares fell by 6.17% in pre-market trading [1] Revenue Breakdown - Product revenues increased by 26% year over year to $23.9 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.35% [2] - Services revenues declined by 4% year over year to $5.84 billion, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 22.66% [2] - Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) revenues surged by 44% year over year to $16.80 billion, driven by strong demand for servers and networking [2][8] AI Server Performance - Servers and networking revenues reached $12.94 billion, marking a 69% year-over-year growth, fueled by demand for AI and traditional servers [3] - Dell shipped $10 billion worth of AI servers in Q2, with a healthy backlog of $11.7 billion [4][8] - The flagship PowerEdge XE9680 saw strong demand, contributing significantly to the AI server momentum [3] Operating Performance - Non-GAAP gross profit for Q2 increased by 1% year over year to $5.57 billion, with a gross margin contraction of 330 basis points to 18.7% [5] - SG&A expenses decreased by 9% year over year to $2.88 billion, while R&D expenses rose by 1% to $785 million [5] - Non-GAAP operating income was $2.28 million, up 10% year over year, with an operating margin contraction of 60 basis points to 7.7% [6] Financial Position - As of August 1, 2025, Dell had $8.14 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up from $7.70 billion on May 2, 2025 [9] - Total debt stood at $28.68 billion, slightly down from $28.78 billion as of May 2, 2025 [9] - The company generated cash flow from operations of $2.5 billion, with adjusted free cash flow of $2.51 billion in Q2 [9] Future Guidance - For Q3 fiscal 2026, revenues are projected to be between $26.5 billion and $27.5 billion, indicating an 11% year-over-year growth at the midpoint [10] - Non-GAAP earnings are expected to be $2.45 per share, suggesting an 11% growth year over year [11] - For fiscal 2026, revenues are anticipated to be between $105 billion and $109 billion, indicating a 12% year-over-year growth at the midpoint [11][12]

Core Viewpoint - Huawei has launched a new high-end SSD series optimized for AI workloads, addressing the increasing data demands and performance limitations of traditional SSDs in AI applications [1][2]. Group 1: Product Launch and Features - The new SSD series includes three types: OceanDisk EX (extreme performance), SP (high performance), and LC (large capacity), catering to different AI application scenarios [2]. - Huawei aims to break the performance and capacity bottlenecks of existing SSDs, emphasizing high performance and large capacity as key differentiators [2]. Group 2: Market Context and Competition - The global SSD market is currently dominated by overseas manufacturers, with the top five brands being Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, Kioxia, and SanDisk as of Q1 2025 [2]. - Domestic manufacturers like Huawei are increasing their SSD investments to capitalize on new AI opportunities, as the performance bottleneck in systems is shifting from CPU to SSD [2]. Group 3: Technological Innovations - Huawei has developed a 32Die high-density stacking technology, enabling SSDs with capacities of 128TB and 245TB [3]. - The SpeedFlex technology allows for increased density and improved heat dissipation in SSDs, addressing challenges in compact environments [3]. - Future R&D directions include increasing single-drive capacity to 512TB and 1PB, enhancing performance, and offloading AI computing tasks to SSDs to improve data processing efficiency [3].

Core Viewpoint - Huawei has launched a new series of high-end SSDs, the Huawei OceanDisk EX/SP/LC, aimed at overcoming performance and capacity bottlenecks in AI storage, thereby enhancing AI training efficiency and inference experience [1][2]. Group 1: Product Features - The Huawei OceanDisk EX 560 (extreme performance disk) offers a random write performance of up to 1500K IOPS, with a write latency of less than 7µs and durability of 60 DWPD, suitable for AI training scenarios [2]. - The Huawei OceanDisk SP 560 (high-performance disk) emphasizes cost-effectiveness, achieving a random write performance of up to 600K IOPS, with a write latency of less than 7µs and durability of 1 DWPD, enhancing inference experience and reducing costs [3]. - The Huawei OceanDisk LC 560 (large capacity disk) has a maximum single-disk physical capacity of 245TB and a read bandwidth of up to 14.7GB/s, aimed at improving data collection and preprocessing efficiency by 6.6 times [3]. Group 2: Market Trends - The global SSD market is expected to see significant growth, with IDC predicting that by 2025, global SSD shipment capacity will reach 805EB, accounting for 25% of total global storage [1]. - The shift from HDD to SSD is accelerating, with SSDs expected to account for 9%-10% of server storage solutions this year, and projected to reach 20% by 2028 due to AI server demand [5][6]. - The trend towards larger capacity SSDs is evident, with the main capacities shifting from 30TB to 60TB-120TB in AI servers, indicating a growing reliance on SSDs for AI training [6]. Group 3: Industry Collaboration and Innovation - Huawei has initiated the "AI SSD Innovation Alliance" in collaboration with various organizations to promote industry ecosystem collaboration and technological innovation in AI storage [4]. - The domestic storage industry is witnessing rapid advancements, with a shift towards SSD technology and increasing production capabilities, indicating a significant opportunity for growth in the sector [5][7].

Investment Rating - The report rates the industry as "Better than the Trend" [7] Core Insights - The report emphasizes the importance of storage in enhancing the training and inference efficiency of large models, highlighting that storage optimization can significantly reduce training time and improve inference performance [3][17] - The shift towards inference as the core growth driver for computing power is noted, with increasing demand for diverse and long-context tasks [3][30] - Huawei's "Storage as Computation" approach is presented as a systematic solution to optimize performance through hardware and software integration [4][51] Summary by Sections 1. Storage Enhancements for Large Model Training and Inference - Storage plays a critical role in reducing data loading and checkpoint recovery times, potentially shortening training durations by 30% [18][21] - Inference performance can be significantly improved, with "Storage as Computation" reducing the first token latency by 90% and expanding context windows by over 10 times [24][27] 2. Transition to Inference-Centric Models - The report notes a surge in inference demand, with predictions indicating that by 2027, inference computing power will account for 70% of total demand [30][31] - The complexity of inference tasks is increasing, necessitating advanced storage solutions to manage longer contexts and higher concurrency [36][37] 3. Huawei's Systematic Approach - Huawei's AI SSDs are designed to handle both hot and cold data, with innovations in storage technology aimed at enhancing performance and capacity [4][52] - The UCM unified memory data manager is highlighted as a key component in optimizing inference efficiency [52] 4. Related Investment Opportunities - The report identifies several companies as potential investment targets, including Huawei storage agents and suppliers, as well as those involved in advanced packaging and SSD controller chips [5][6][4]

Core Insights - The evolution of large models is slowing down, indicating that many associated technologies are reaching the productization stage rather than mere incremental improvements [2] - The storage industry is facing a fundamental architectural overhaul rather than a gradual upgrade, as traditional storage arrays are becoming performance and scalability bottlenecks in the context of AI [2][3] - The AI storage sector is witnessing a surge in valuations for unicorns, with a market acceptance of the "unified storage layer + AI-native interface" approach [2] Industry Changes - Traditional storage arrays are becoming bottlenecks due to four core changes driven by AI: 1. The need for ultra-high performance driven by large model training, requiring storage systems to provide high bandwidth and concurrency [3] 2. Efficiency optimization during the inference phase, necessitating a unified management of fragmented data [3][4] 3. Data control and security concerns, as enterprises are reluctant to share core data with public models [5] 4. Limitations of traditional architectures, including isolated designs and inadequate adaptation to new hardware environments [5] Ideal Storage System Characteristics - An ideal AI-era storage system should feature: 1. A unified data platform that simplifies management and avoids complex data migrations [6] 2. A flat architecture that utilizes a single unified storage layer adaptable to various business needs [6] 3. Support for new AI-native interfaces alongside traditional storage interfaces [8] ExponTech's WADP Platform - ExponTech has launched the WADP (WiDE AI Data Platform) to address core pain points in AI applications, focusing on efficient integration of storage and management of vast multi-source data [6][7] - The WADP is built on a self-developed distributed storage engine and metadata engine, capable of managing trillions of files and achieving high performance metrics [8] - The platform aims to modernize traditional storage arrays and provide a future-proof AI data infrastructure for enterprises [7][8]

Core Insights - Silicon Motion Technology Corporation is showcasing its MonTitan™ SM8366 PCIe Gen5 SSD controller solutions at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) 2025 event, highlighting its commitment to advanced storage solutions for AI applications [1][4] - The collaboration with VAST Data and Innodisk emphasizes the integration of high-capacity SSDs into AI infrastructure, enhancing performance and scalability for data-intensive workloads [2][3] Company Developments - Silicon Motion is demonstrating its MonTitan™ SM8366 controller-based SSDs, including the Unigen Cheetah High Capacity 128TB QLC E1.L SSD and 3.2TB SLC U.2 SSD, showcasing efficient storage solutions for AI applications [1][2] - The company is also presenting its collaboration with Innodisk on an 8TB E1.S MonTitan™ based SSD, designed for high-performance edge computing environments [2][3] Industry Trends - The integration of SSD technology with disaggregated storage architectures, such as VAST Data's Ceres V2, is aimed at meeting the growing demands of AI and data-intensive workloads [2] - Silicon Motion's portfolio includes a wide range of storage solutions for various AI-driven applications, including gaming consoles, smartphones, robotics, and automotive systems, indicating a broad market reach [3]

Group 1: Competitive Advantages in Enterprise Storage - The company is one of the few A-share listed companies that officially discloses specific enterprise storage product performance, including eSSD and RDIMM [3] - In Q1 2025, the revenue from enterprise storage products reached 319 million CNY, representing a year-on-year growth of over 200% [3] - The company has gained recognition from various well-known clients across different industries, including large internet companies and telecom operators, showcasing the adaptability and reliability of its products [3] Group 2: Impact of TCM Model on Revenue and Profitability - The company has partnered with SanDisk to leverage its strengths in main control chip development and packaging, aiming to launch customized high-quality UFS products for the mobile and IoT markets [4] - The UFS 4.1 product, featuring the company's self-developed main control chip, achieves sequential read/write speeds of 4350MB/s and 4200MB/s, and random read/write speeds of 630K IOPS and 750K IOPS, outperforming mainstream market products [4] - The TCM model is expected to enhance visibility in supply and demand, reduce price volatility impacts, and create continuous value through core capabilities [5] Group 3: Future Development of Self-Developed Main Control Chips - The company has launched three main control chips for eMMC, SD cards, and automotive-grade USB products, with cumulative applications exceeding 30 million units [5] - The first batch of UFS self-developed main control chips has been successfully taped out, indicating progress in high-end product development [5] - The company anticipates significant growth in the application scale of self-developed main control chips throughout 2025, while maintaining long-term collaborations with third-party chip manufacturers to diversify its product offerings [5]

Core Insights - Distributed storage is essential for enterprises to build efficient and resilient data foundations to meet large-scale data storage and application needs [1] - Ceph is a leading open-source distributed storage solution favored by various industries, including telecommunications, finance, and top internet companies due to its high scalability, multi-protocol support, and mature ecosystem [1] Advantages of Yilian Ceph Distributed Storage Solution - Utilizes PCIe 5.0 ESSD, achieving data throughput efficiency that is double that of the previous generation [1] - Innovative intelligent multi-stream technology adapts to Ceph's data distribution characteristics, outperforming mainstream competitors by up to 3.15% [1] - Effectively suppresses write amplification (WAF) by 20%-32% compared to mainstream competitors [1] - Extends SSD lifespan by over 20%, providing a storage infrastructure with ultra-low latency and high consistency for cloud-native environments [1] Challenges of Ceph Distributed Storage - Ceph faces challenges in distributed storage scenarios, including multi-replica data consistency, network latency, and storage medium performance bottlenecks, which can exacerbate write amplification and affect SSD lifespan and system stability [1] Performance Testing and Results - Performance tests showed that with a queue depth (QD) of 32, UH812a achieved random read IOPS of over 1.755 million and random write IOPS of over 190,000, with latencies of 1.1 milliseconds and 9.9 milliseconds, respectively [10] - For sequential read performance, at a QD of 64, UH812a exceeded 56GB/s bandwidth with a latency of 8.85 milliseconds, while sequential write bandwidth surpassed 15.3GB/s with a latency of 32.88 milliseconds, outperforming competitors by 3.15% [13] Write Amplification Factor (WAF) Optimization - UH812a achieved an average WAF of 1.78, which is 25% lower than competitor A, 32% lower than competitor B, and 20% lower than competitor C [16] - The reduction in WAF is expected to extend the effective lifespan of UH812a by over 20% [18] Technical Advantages of Yilian UH812a/UH832a - The intelligent multi-stream technology enables dynamic hot and cold data classification, achieving a low WAF of 1.78, significantly extending SSD lifespan and providing reliable storage for high-load enterprise scenarios [20] - Performance consistency is maintained in mixed load and multi-replica deployment scenarios, ensuring compliance with business service level agreements (SLAs) [21] - High reliability is achieved through a multi-layer data protection system that integrates distributed storage replica strategies and end-to-end data integrity protection [22] Customer Value Across Industries - In telecommunications, the solution enhances storage efficiency and reduces costs, with a lifespan increase of over 20% for ESSD [23] - For leading internet companies, performance consistency ensures stable latency and bandwidth, maintaining high-quality user experiences [23] - In the financial sector, the multi-layer data protection system ensures data security and compliance, reducing risks of data breaches and losses [24] Conclusion - Yilian PCIe 5.0 ESSD demonstrates exceptional performance and stability in distributed storage scenarios, with WAF metrics significantly outperforming mainstream competitors, making it an ideal choice for building next-generation scalable distributed storage systems [24]