Core Viewpoint - Western Digital (WDC) has experienced a strong recovery driven by increasing investor interest in AI infrastructure and cloud storage, with expectations of a multi-year upgrade cycle for hard disk technology due to AI-driven data growth [1][2]. Group 1: Company Performance - WDC's stock has been upgraded by Morgan Stanley, which raised its price target to $369, citing AI as a sustainable growth driver for data storage [2]. - The company reported record shipments of 215 exabytes of storage in Q2, marking a 22% year-over-year increase, with significant demand for its 32TB UltraSMR HDDs [4]. - WDC's stock price has surged approximately 433% over the past 12 months, rising from the low $40s to around $172, as the company consistently exceeded forecasts and raised guidance [6]. Group 2: Strategic Initiatives - WDC has rebranded itself to emphasize its focus on AI, with about 90% of its revenue coming from AI/cloud customers [3]. - The company introduced a new "intelligent" storage platform at Innovation Day, aimed at facilitating the integration of its HDDs into large AI clusters for cloud providers [5]. - The demand from hyperscale customers is so strong that management indicated they are "pretty much sold out" of capacity into 2026 [6].