Western Digital Projects Higher Revenue on Strong Storage Demand

Reuters | January 29, 2026 at 10:04 PM UTC
Bullish 84% Confidence Unanimous Agreement
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Key Points

  • Q3 revenue guidance of $3.2 billion (plus or minus $100 million) beats analyst estimates of $2.96 billion
  • Q2 revenue reached $3.02 billion, surpassing expectations of $2.92 billion
  • Growth fueled by hyperscalers' AI adoption and the global race to scale AI infrastructure, with demand outpacing supply

AI Summary

Western Digital Projects Strong Q3 Revenue on AI-Driven Storage Demand

Key Developments:

Western Digital issued an upbeat third-quarter revenue forecast on January 29, projecting $3.2 billion (±$100 million) versus Wall Street estimates of $2.96 billion. The company's second-quarter revenue reached $3.02 billion, beating analyst expectations of $2.92 billion.

AI Infrastructure Driving Growth:

Robust demand stems from the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and data-driven workloads by hyperscalers racing to scale AI infrastructure. Western Digital's high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) are essential for storing vast datasets used to train AI models, while its enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) deliver high-speed performance for AI workloads.

Market Dynamics:

Analysts observe a stable pricing environment as demand continues to outpace supply in the storage sector. The company benefits from both hard drive and flash storage solutions catering to different aspects of AI server requirements.

Related Performance:

Memory storage firm SanDisk also exceeded expectations, reporting second-quarter revenue of $3.03 billion compared to estimates of $2.64 billion, further validating strength in the storage market.

Market Implications:

The results underscore the sustained momentum in AI infrastructure investment and highlight storage solutions as critical enablers of AI deployment. Western Digital's dual product portfolio positions it to capture growth across both mass storage and high-performance computing segments. The favorable supply-demand dynamics suggest continued pricing power and margin stability for storage providers. Investors should monitor hyperscaler capital expenditure trends as a leading indicator for continued sector growth.

Model Analysis Breakdown

Model Sentiment Confidence
GPT-5-mini Bullish 80%
Claude 4.5 Haiku Bullish 82%
Gemini 2.5 Flash Bullish 90%
Consensus Bullish 84%