UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended September 27, 2024

Or

For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 1-8703

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (408) 717-6000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ý

As of the close of business on October 22, 2024, 345,708,453 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, were outstanding.

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

INDEX

Unless otherwise indicated, references herein to specific years and quarters are to our fiscal years and fiscal quarters, and references to financial information are on a consolidated basis. As used herein, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” “WDC,” and “Western Digital” refer to Western Digital Corporation and its subsidiaries, unless we state, or the context indicates, otherwise.

WDC, a Delaware corporation, is the parent company of our data storage business. Our principal executive offices are located at 5601 Great Oaks Parkway, San Jose, California 95119. Our telephone number is (408) 717-6000.

Western Digital, the Western Digital logo, SanDisk, and WD are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any statements that do not relate to historical or current facts or matters are forward-looking statements. You can identify some of the forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words, such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “potential,” “plan,” “forecast,” and the like, or the use of future tense. Statements concerning current conditions may also be forward-looking if they imply a continuation of current conditions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning: our expectations regarding our plan to separate our hard disk drives (“HDD”) and flash-based products (“Flash”) business units; the impact of the global macroeconomic environment; expectations regarding demand trends and market conditions for our products; expectations related to our sale of a portion of our equity interest in SanDisk Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; expectations related to our joint ventures and partnerships including relating to our Flash Ventures joint venture with Kioxia Corporation (“Kioxia”); expectations regarding our tax resolutions, effective tax rate and our unrecognized tax benefits; expectations regarding the merits of our position and our plans with respect to certain litigation matters; and our beliefs regarding our capital allocation plans and the sufficiency of our available liquidity to meet our working capital, debt and capital expenditure needs.

These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, represent the most current information available to us as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

• volatility in global or regional economic conditions and our responsive actions thereto;

• operational, financial and legal challenges and difficulties inherent in implementing a separation of our HDD and Flash business units;

• the final approval of the separation by our board of directors;

• dependence on a limited number of suppliers or disruptions in our supply chain;

• the outcome, timing and impact of the planned separation of our HDD and Flash business units, including with respect to customer and supplier relationships, contractual restrictions, stock price volatility and the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities;

• future responses to and effects of public health crises;

• the impact of business and market conditions;

• damage or disruption to our operations or to those of our suppliers;

• hiring and retention of key employees;

• compromise, damage or interruption from cybersecurity incidents or other data or system security risks;

• product defects;

• our reliance on strategic relationships with key partners, including Kioxia;

• the competitive environment, including actions by our competitors, and the impact of competitive products and pricing;

• our development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets;

• risks associated with cost saving initiatives, restructurings, acquisitions, divestitures, mergers, joint ventures and our strategic relationships;

• changes to our relationships with key customers;

• our ability to respond to market and other changes in our distribution channel and retail market;

• our level of debt and other financial obligations;

• changes in tax laws or unanticipated tax liabilities;

• fluctuations in currency exchange rates in connection with our international operations;

• risks associated with compliance with changing legal and regulatory requirements and the outcome of legal proceedings;

*•*risks associated with our goals relating to environmental, social and governance matters, including our ability to meet our GHG emissions reduction and other ESG goals;

• our reliance on intellectual property and other proprietary information; and

• the other risks and uncertainties disclosed in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 28, 2024 (our “2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K”), as amended, supplemented or superseded in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

You are urged to carefully review the disclosures we make concerning these risks and review the additional disclosures we make concerning material risks and other factors that may affect the outcome of our forward-looking statements and our business and operating results, including those made in Part I, Item 1A of our 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K and any of those made in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of subsequent Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q that may from time to time amend, supplement or supersede the risks and uncertainties disclosed in the 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which speak only as of the date of this document. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in millions, except par value)

(Unaudited)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in millions, except per share amounts)

(Unaudited)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

(in millions)

(Unaudited)

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The following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, and should be read in conjunction with the disclosures we make concerning risks and other factors that may affect our business and operating results. You should read this information in conjunction with the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in Part II, Item 8 of our Annual Report on Form 10‑K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024. See also “Forward-Looking Statements” immediately prior to Part I, Item 1 in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Unless otherwise indicated, references herein to specific years and quarters are to our fiscal years and fiscal quarters. As used herein, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” and the “Company” refer to Western Digital Corporation and its subsidiaries.

Our Company

We are a leading developer, manufacturer, and provider of data storage devices based on both hard disk drive and NAND flash technologies. With a differentiated innovation engine driving advancements in storage and semiconductor technologies, our broad and ever-expanding portfolio delivers powerful HDD and Flash storage solutions for everyone from students, gamers, and home offices to the largest enterprises and public clouds to capture, preserve, access, and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data.

Our broad portfolio of technology and products addresses our multiple end markets: “Cloud,” “Client,” and “Consumer”. Cloud is comprised primarily of products for public or private cloud environments and enterprise customers. Through the Client end market, we provide our original equipment manufacturer “OEM” and channel customers a broad array of high-performance HDD and Flash solutions across personal computer, mobile, gaming, automotive, virtual reality headsets, at-home entertainment, and industrial spaces. The Consumer end market is highlighted by our broad range of retail and other end-user products, which capitalize on the strength of our product brand recognition and vast points of presence around the world.

Our fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest to June 30 and typically consists of 52 weeks. Approximately every five to six years, we report a 53-week fiscal year to align the fiscal year with the foregoing policy. Fiscal year 2025, which will end on June 27, 2025, and fiscal year 2024, which ended on June 28, 2024, are each comprised of 52 weeks, with all quarters presented consisting of 13 weeks.

Key Developments

Separation of Business Units

On October 30, 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors had completed its strategic review of our business and, after evaluating a comprehensive range of alternatives, authorized us to pursue a plan to separate our HDD and Flash business units to create two independent, public companies. We believe the separation will better position each business unit to execute innovative technology and product development, capitalize on unique growth opportunities, extend respective leadership positions, and operate more efficiently with distinct capital structures. The completion of the planned separation is subject to certain conditions, including final approval by our Board of Directors. At the beginning of our second quarter of fiscal 2025, we entered the soft-spin phase of our separation plan. The soft-spin phase represents the period when we begin testing critical processes and systems for each future HDD and Flash company to ensure that both are ready to operate independently at legal separation. We continue to make progress on the work required to execute the separation, which we expect will occur after we close the second quarter of fiscal 2025.

Operational Update

Macroeconomic factors such as inflation, changes in interest rates, and recession concerns softened demand for our products during 2023 and the first half of 2024. As a result, we and our industry experienced a supply-demand imbalance, which resulted in reduced shipments and negatively impacted pricing during those periods. To adapt to these conditions, since the beginning of 2023, we implemented measures to reduce operating expenses and proactively manage supply and inventory to align with demand and improve our capital efficiency while continuing to deploy innovative products. These actions enabled us to scale back on capital expenditures, consolidate production lines, and reduce production. During the first quarter of 2024, these actions resulted in incremental charges for employee termination, asset impairment, and charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs in HDD and Flash due to the underutilization of facilities as we temporarily scaled back production.

We are now seeing an improvement in the supply and demand dynamic, leading to improved revenues. The increase in demand resulted in increased revenue and gross margin across our segments in the first quarter of 2025 from the comparable period in the prior year. We anticipate that digital transformation, including the AI data-cycle, will continue to drive improved market conditions in the near- and long-term for data storage, encompassing HDD and Flash technologies. Leveraging our expertise and innovation in both areas, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on this improved market condition.

We will continue to actively monitor developments impacting our business and may take additional responsive actions that we determine to be in the best interest of our business and stakeholders.

Sale of a Majority Interest in a Subsidiary

As discussed in Part I, Item 1, Note 4, Supplemental Financial Statement Data, of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, in March 2024, we entered into an agreement to sell 80% of the equity interest in one of our Flash manufacturing subsidiaries to JCET, a third-party contract manufacturing company. Subsequent to the first quarter of fiscal 2025, on September 28, 2024, the transaction closed. In connection with this transaction, we entered into a 5-year supply agreement with JCET to purchase wafers with a minimum annual commitment of $550 million.

As a result of this transaction, we expect to incur a modest reduction in annual operating expenses and a reduction in annual capital expenditures related to assembly and testing of Flash-based products. We also anticipate that the transition to a contract manufacturing model through SDSS will result in a small increase in our annual cost of revenue for Flash-based products.

Tax Resolution

As previously disclosed, we had previously reached a final agreement with the IRS and received notices of deficiency with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and in February 2024, also reached a final agreement for resolving the notices of proposed adjustments with respect to years 2013 through 2015. During the three months ended September 27, 2024, we made payments aggregating $153 million for tax and interest with respect to all years 2008 through 2015 and have a remaining liability of $10 million as of September 27, 2024 related to all years from 2008 through 2015. We expect to pay any remaining balance with respect to this matter within the next twelve months. Additional information regarding these settlements and our assessment of the potential tax and interest payments we expect to pay in connection with the settlements is provided in our discussion of Income tax expense in our “Results of Operations” below, as well as in Part I, Item 1, Note 12, Income Tax Expense, of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, and in the “Short- and Long-term Liquidity – Unrecognized Tax Benefits” section below.

Results of Operations

First Quarter Overview

The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, selected summary information from our Condensed Consol

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Except as disclosed below, there have been no material changes to our market risk during the three months ended September 27, 2024. See Part II, Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 28, 2024 for further information about our exposure to market risk.

Foreign Currency Risk

We performed sensitivity analyses as of September 27, 2024, using a modeling technique that measures the change in the fair values arising from a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in the levels of foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar, with all other variables held constant. The analyses cover all of our foreign currency derivative contracts used to offset the underlying exposures. The foreign currency exchange rates used in performing the sensitivity analyses were based on market rates in effect at September 27, 2024. The sensitivity analyses indicated that a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar would result in a foreign exchange fair value loss of $294 million at September 27, 2024.

Interest Rate Risk

We have generally held a balance of fixed and variable rate debt. As of September 27, 2024, our variable rate debt outstanding consisted of our Term Loan A-2, which is based on various index rates as discussed further in Note 7, Debt, of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. As of September 27, 2024, the outstanding balance on our variable rate debt was $2.6 billion and a one percent increase in the variable rate of interest would increase annual interest expense by $26 million.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As required by Rule 13a-15(b) promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

Changes in Internal Controls over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

See Note 16, Legal Proceedings and Note 12, Income Tax Expense of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for disclosures regarding certain legal proceedings and the status of statutory notices of deficiency issued by the IRS with regards to tax years 2008 through 2015, respectively, which are incorporated by reference herein.

We have described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 28, 2024 a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results of operations and financial condition to vary materially from past, or from anticipated future, results of operations and financial condition. There have been no material changes from these risk factors previously described in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 28, 2024. These risks and uncertainties are not the only risks facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or the market price of our common stock.

Insider Trading Arrangements

None.

The exhibits listed in the Exhibit Index below are filed with, or incorporated by reference in, this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as specified in the Exhibit List, from exhibits previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Certain agreements listed in the Exhibit Index that we have filed or incorporated by reference may contain representations and warranties by us or our subsidiaries. These representations and warranties have been made solely for the benefit of the other party or parties to such agreements and (i) may have been qualified by disclosures made to such other party or parties, (ii) were made only as of the date of such agreements or such other date(s) as may be specified in such agreements and are subject to more recent developments, which may not be fully reflected in our public disclosures, (iii) may reflect the allocation of risk among the parties to such agreements and (iv) may apply materiality standards different from what may be viewed as material to investors. Accordingly, these representations and warranties may not describe the actual state of affairs at the date hereof and should not be relied upon.

EXHIBIT INDEX

† Filed with this report.

• Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement required to be filed as an exhibit pursuant to applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

** Furnished with this report.

As permitted by Regulation S-K, Item 601(b)(10)(iv) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, certain confidential portions of this exhibit have been redacted from the publicly filed document.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

Dated: October 30, 2024