威騰電子 (WDC) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Western Digital's fourth-quarter and fiscal 2024 conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Peter Andrew, Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis and Investor Relations. You may begin.

下午好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加西部數據2024財年第四季電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的通話正在被錄音。現在，我想將會議交給財務規劃和分析及投資者關係副總裁 Peter Andrew 先生。你可以開始了。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Joining me today are David Goeckeler, Chief Executive Officer, and Wissam Jabre, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝大家，下午好。今天與我一起出席的還有執行長 David Goeckeler 和財務長 Wissam Jabre。

Before we begin, let me remind everyone that today's discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon management's current assumptions and expectations, and as such, does include risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include expectations for our product portfolio, our business plans and performance, the separation of our Flash and HDD businesses, ongoing market trends, and our future financial results.

在我們開始之前，請允許我提醒大家，今天的討論包含基於管理層當前假設和期望的前瞻性陳述，因此確實包含風險和不確定性。這些前瞻性陳述包括對我們的產品組合、我們的業務計劃和業績、我們的快閃記憶體和硬碟業務的分離、持續的市場趨勢以及我們未來的財務表現的預期。

We assume no obligation to update these statements. Please refer to our most recent financial report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC for more information on the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations.

我們不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。有關可能導致實際結果與預期存在重大差異的風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱我們最新的 10-K 表財務報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件。

We will also make references to non-GAAP financial measures today. Reconciliations between the non-GAAP and comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the press release, and other materials that are being posted in the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I'll now turn the call over to David for introductory remarks.

今天我們也將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。非公認會計準則 (non-GAAP) 和可比較公認會計準則 (GAAP) 財務指標之間的對帳包含在新聞稿以及我們網站投資者關係部分發布的其他資料中。說完這些，我現在將電話轉給戴維作介紹性發言。

Thanks, Peter. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call to discuss our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 performance. Western Digital delivered strong results with fiscal fourth quarter revenue of $3.8 billion, non-GAAP gross margin of 36.3%, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.44.

謝謝，彼得。大家下午好，感謝大家參加電話會議討論我們 2024 財年第四季和全年的業績。西部數據業績強勁，第四財季營收為 38 億美元，非 GAAP 毛利率為 36.3%，非 GAAP 每股收益為 1.44 美元。

For the fiscal year 2024, revenue totaled $13 billion. We have maintained our strategic focus on aligning our portfolio of industry-leading products with growth opportunities across a broad range of end markets to mitigate volatility, while structurally improving our through-cycle profitability for both Flash and HDD.

2024財年總收入為130億美元。我們始終保持策略重點，將我們領先業界的產品組合與廣泛終端市場的成長機會相結合，以減輕波動，同時從結構上提高快閃記憶體和硬碟的整個週期獲利能力。

Before we discuss our performance, I want to provide our views on where the storage market is heading, and how we are well positioned to capitalize on these growth opportunities. Our diverse portfolio, coupled with the structural changes we have made to strengthen our operations, is enabling us to benefit from the broad recovery we are beginning to see across our end markets.

在討論我們的業績之前，我想先談談我們對儲存市場走向的看法，以及我們如何能夠充分利用這些成長機會。我們多元化的產品組合，加上我們為加強營運而進行的結構性變革，使我們能夠從終端市場開始看到的廣泛復甦中受益。

In addition, the AI data cycle is increasing the need for storage and creating new demand drivers across both Flash and HDD. These AI systems process and analyze existing data, generate new data, and require substantial storage for training, operating in a continuous cycle of increasing data consumption, processing, and generation.

此外，人工智慧資料週期正在增加對儲存的需求，並在快閃記憶體和 HDD 中創造新的需求驅動因素。這些人工智慧系統處理和分析現有數據，產生新數據，並需要大量儲存進行訓練，不斷增加數據消耗、處理和產生的循環。

As AI technologies advance, data storage systems must deliver the capacity and performance necessary to support the computational demands of large sophisticated models, while managing vast volumes of data. Given this landscape, we expect Flash to benefit from both AI training and inference while HDD is poised to benefit at both the input and output stages of these AI models.

隨著人工智慧技術的進步，資料儲存系統必須提供必要的容量和效能，以支援大型複雜模型的運算需求，同時管理大量資料。鑑於這種情況，我們預計 Flash 將從 AI 訓練和推理中受益，而 HDD 將從這些 AI 模型的輸入和輸出階段受益。

To address the growing performance, power, and capacity requirements, we have developed our Flash and HDD product road maps to meet our end customer storage needs across the entire AI data cycle. We introduced the industry-leading high-performance PCIe Gen 5 SSD to support AI training and inference, a high-capacity 64 terabyte SSD for optimizing the build-out of rapid AI data lakes, and the world's highest capacity ePMR UltraSMR 32-terabyte hard drive for cost effective and deep content storage at scale.

為了滿足不斷增長的效能、功率和容量需求，我們制定了 Flash 和 HDD 產品路線圖，以滿足整個 AI 資料週期的最終客戶儲存需求。我們推出了業界領先的高性能 PCIe Gen 5 SSD 來支援 AI 訓練和推理，高容量 64 TB SSD 來優化快速 AI 資料湖的構建，以及世界上容量最高的 ePMR UltraSMR 32 TB 硬碟，可實現大規模經濟高效的深度內容儲存。

These new offerings demonstrate our continued commitment to innovation and market leadership. As we enter fiscal year 2025, we are well positioned to capture the long-term growth opportunities in data storage, and believe the AI data cycle will be a significant incremental growth driver for the storage industry.

這些新產品體現了我們對創新和市場領導地位的持續承諾。進入2025財年，我們已準備好抓住資料儲存領域的長期成長機遇，並相信人工智慧資料週期將成為儲存產業重要的增量成長動力。

Before I dive further into business updates, I want to update you on our separation plans. I am pleased with the progress our team has made as we continue to drive to completing the work required to separate the company at the end of the calendar year. As part of the ongoing preparation for the separation, we anticipate beginning to incur separation dis-synergy costs in the second half of the calendar year. Wissam will briefly discuss the anticipated impact of these costs.

在我進一步了解業務更新之前，我想先向您介紹我們的分離計劃。我對我們的團隊所取得的進展感到滿意，我們將繼續努力完成在年底分離公司所需的工作。作為分離持續準備工作的一部分，我們預計今年下半年開始產生分離失調成本。Wissam 將簡要討論這些成本的預期影響。

I'll now turn to business updates. Starting with Flash, the growth in revenue was driven by the recovery in cloud, and a shift of our client mix to gaming and mobile, partially offset by a decline in consumer. Our focus on driving higher through-cycle profitability is reflected in our results as we proactively mix bits across our end markets.

現在我將轉而介紹業務更新情況。從 Flash 開始，收入的成長是由雲端運算的復甦以及我們的客戶結構向遊戲和行動端的轉變所推動的，但消費者的下降部分抵消了這一增長。我們專注於提高整個週期的獲利能力，這反映在我們的業績中，因為我們積極地在終端市場中進行混合。

Our innovative offerings remain at the forefront of the market, reinforcing our competitive position and bolstering our growth prospects. For example, our new QLC-based client SSDs, which grew 50% on a sequential exabyte basis, offer significantly better performance than our previous generation TLC products. Combining this high-performance node with our in-house controller development enable us to provide a portfolio of client SSDs that deliver unmatched performance and value. We believe these products will lead the industry's transition to QLC flash.

我們的創新產品始終處於市場前沿，增強了我們的競爭地位並促進了我們的成長前景。例如，我們新的基於 QLC 的客戶端 SSD 在連續 EB 基礎上成長了 50%，其效能明顯優於我們上一代 TLC 產品。將此高效能節點與我們的內部控制器開發相結合，使我們能夠提供具有無與倫比性能和價值的客戶端 SSD 產品組合。我們相信這些產品將引領產業向QLC快閃記憶體的轉變。

During our New Era of NAND webinar last month, we introduced the world's highest capacity BiCS8 2-terabyte QLC memory die, specifically designed to meet growing data center and AI storage needs. Built on a chip bonded to array architecture, BiCS8 reinforces Western Digital and Kioxia's leadership in cost and capital efficiency as well as superior I/O performance by integrating wafer bonding in advanced 3D manufacturing to establish a groundbreaking foundation for future scalability of 3D NAND.

在上個月的 NAND 新時代網路研討會上，我們推出了世界上容量最高的 BiCS8 2TB QLC 記憶體晶片，專為滿足不斷增長的資料中心和 AI 儲存需求而設計。BiCS8 建立在晶片鍵合陣列架構之上，透過在先進的 3D 製造中整合晶圓鍵合技術，為 3D NAND 未來的可擴展性奠定了突破性的基礎，鞏固了西部數據和鎧俠在成本和資本效率以及卓越 I/O 性能方面的領先地位。

In addition, our 64 terabyte enterprise SSD is now being sampled, with plans for volume shipment later this calendar year. Furthermore, our PCIe Gen 5 based enterprise SSD delivers best-in-class read performance as well as power efficiency. We are seeing significant interest in this product, which is currently qualifying at a hyperscaler with ramp expected in the second half of this calendar year. We'll talk more about our Flash road map at the upcoming Flash Memory Summit in early August.

此外，我們的 64 TB 企業級 SSD 目前正在提供樣品，計劃於今年稍後批量發貨。此外，我們基於 PCIe Gen 5 的企業級 SSD 可提供一流的讀取效能和功率效率。我們看到市場對這款產品的濃厚興趣，該產品目前正在超大規模市場中取得資格，預計今年下半年將實現量產。我們將在 8 月初即將舉行的閃存峰會上進一步討論我們的快閃路線圖。

Turning to the Flash outlook, throughout the fourth quarter, our product mix was dynamic as we proactively mix bits between our end markets in response to the softness we are seeing in the more transactional markets such as consumer and channel. Our success in identifying the most profitable approach to allocating bits is reflected in the growth of both our revenue and gross margin. As we look into the first quarter, in addition to the mix environment we saw in the fourth quarter, we expect the continued ramp of our new enterprise SSD offerings, and seasonal strength in mobile, to drive mid- to high-teens bit growth on a sequential basis.

談到 Flash 前景，在整個第四季度，我們的產品組合是動態的，因為我們主動在終端市場之間混合產品，以應對我們在消費者和通路等交易性更強的市場中看到的疲軟。我們成功地找到了最有利可圖的比特分配方法，這反映在我們的收入和毛利率的成長上。展望第一季度，除了我們在第四季度看到的混合環境之外，我們預計新的企業級 SSD 產品將繼續成長，以及行動領域的季節性優勢，將推動中到高十位數的連續成長。

For the full fiscal year 2025, we expect enterprise SSDs to represent a double-digit percent share in our portfolio mix. The new era of NAND is driving a period of change, and we are going to remain disciplined in managing our capital spending. The layers focus race is behind us.

對於整個 2025 財年，我們預期企業級 SSD 將在我們的投資組合中佔據兩位數的百分比份額。NAND 的新時代正在推動變革時期，我們將繼續嚴格管理我們的資本支出。層級焦點競賽已經過去了。

The emphasis is now shifting towards strategically timing the economic introduction of new longer-lasting nodes. Innovation now means enhancing power efficiency, performance and capacity within these nodes, while capital decisions increasingly prioritize opportunities for margin expansion and revenue growth.

現在的重點已轉向策略性地安排引入新的、更持久的節點的經濟時機。創新現在意味著提高這些節點的功率效率、效能和容量，而資本決策越來越優先考慮利潤擴大和收入成長的機會。

Turning to HDD, revenue growth was driven by strength in nearline demand and improved pricing. By leveraging our SMR leadership and lean cost structure, we have surpassed our target gross margin range, underscoring our ongoing commitment to improve future profitability. The HDD business has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent quarters, marked by strategic initiatives aimed at introducing the most innovative, high-capacity products to market.

談到 HDD，營收成長受到近線需求強勁和價格上漲的推動。透過利用我們的 SMR 領導地位和精益成本結構，我們已超越了目標毛利率範圍，凸顯了我們對提高未來獲利能力的持續承諾。在最近幾季，HDD 業務經歷了顯著的轉型，其特點是採取了旨在向市場推出最具創新性的高容量產品的策略性舉措。

We have increased our profitability meaningfully by restructuring our manufacturing footprint and optimizing our cost structure to drive operational efficiency, all while qualifying and ramping our SMR technology. We continue to structurally change the way we are operating our HDD business. With better visibility into future demand, operational excellence, and a commitment to sustaining supply-demand balance, we are poised to continue our trajectory of bringing highly innovative products to market while increasing profitability into the future.

我們透過重組製造佈局、優化成本結構來提高營運效率，同時對 SMR 技術進行認證和提升，從而顯著提高了獲利能力。我們將繼續從結構上改變我們的 HDD 業務運作方式。透過更了解未來需求、卓越營運以及維持供需平衡的承諾，我們準備繼續將高度創新的產品推向市場，同時提高未來的獲利能力。

On the technology front, we ship samples of our 32-terabyte UltraSMR/ePMR nearline hard drives to select customers. These drives feature advanced triple-stage actuators and OptiNAND technology which are designed for seamless qualification, integration and deployment in hyperscale cloud and enterprise data centers while maintaining exceptional reliability.

在技​​術方面，我們向選定的客戶發送了 32 TB UltraSMR/ePMR 近線硬碟的樣品。這些驅動器採用先進的三級執行器和 OptiNAND 技術，旨在在超大規模雲端和企業資料中心實現無縫認證、整合和部署，同時保持卓越的可靠性。

With this in mind, we are well positioned to deliver the industry's highest capacity hard drives and the best TCO. Turning to the HDD outlook. As we look to the fiscal first quarter, we expect further growth driven by greater demand and more favorable pricing. Our cloud customers continue to transition to SMR, and we anticipate a third major cloud vendor to begin the ramp of adopting SMR in the fiscal first quarter.

考慮到這一點，我們有能力提供業界容量最高的硬碟和最佳的 TCO。轉向 HDD 前景。展望第一財季，我們預期更大的需求和更優惠的定價將推動進一步的成長。我們的雲端客戶繼續向 SMR 過渡，我們預計第三家主要雲端供應商將在第一財季開始採用 SMR。

Our leading products and lean cost structure have supported ongoing profitability improvements in our HDD business. We remain focused on driving higher margins to reflect the significant innovation and TCO improvements we deliver to our customers.

我們領先的產品和精益的成本結構支持了我們的 HDD 業務盈利能力的持續提升。我們將繼續致力於提高利潤率，以體現我們為客戶提供的重大創新和整體擁有成本 (TCO) 改進。

Our strategic approach to commercializing ePMR, OptiNAND, and UltraSMR technologies, has proven to be the winning strategy, enabling us to surpass our gross margin target for HDDs in the midst of AI's emergence as another pivotal growth driver for the industry. Let me now turn the call over to Wissam, who will discuss our fiscal fourth quarter results.

事實證明，我們將 ePMR、OptiNAND 和 UltraSMR 技術商業化的策略方針是成功的策略，使我們能夠在人工智慧成為行業另一個關鍵成長動力的背景下超越 HDD 的毛利率目標。現在，我將電話轉給 Wissam，他將討論我們的第四季財務表現。

Thanks, David. And good afternoon, everyone. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Western Digital delivered great results with gross margin and earnings per share exceeding the high end of the guidance range. Total revenue for the quarter was $3.8 billion, up 9% sequentially and 41% year-over-year. Non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.44.

謝謝，大衛。大家下午好。第四財季，西部數據業績出色，毛利率和每股盈餘都超出預期區間上限。本季總營收為 38 億美元，比上一季成長 9%，比去年同期成長 41%。非公認會計準則每股收益為 1.44 美元。

Looking at end markets, Cloud represented 50% of total revenue at $1.9 billion. The sequential growth of 21% is attributed to higher nearline shipments and pricing in HDD, coupled with increased bit shipments and pricing in enterprise SSD. The 89% year-over-year increase was due to higher shipments and price per unit in nearline HDDs along with higher enterprise SSD bit shipments. Nearline bit shipments were at a record level of 125 exabytes, up 16% from the previous quarter, and 113% compared to fiscal fourth quarter of 2023.

從終端市場來看，雲端運算佔總營收的 50%，達到 19 億美元。21% 的環比成長歸因於 HDD 近線出貨量和價格的提高，以及企業級 SSD 的位元出貨量和價格的提高。年成長 89% 是由於近線 HDD 的出貨量和單價增加，以及企業 SSD 出貨量增加。近線比特出貨量達到創紀錄的 125 EB，較上一季成長 16%，與 2023 財年第四季相比成長 113%。

Client represented 32% of total revenue at $1.2 billion. The sequential increase of 3% was due to the increase in flash ASPs, offsetting a decline in flash bit shipments while HDD revenue decreased slightly. The 16% year-over-year growth was driven by higher flash ASPs. Consumer represented 18% of total revenue at $0.7 billion.

客戶收入佔總收入的 32%，達到 12 億美元。環比成長 3% 是由於快閃記憶體平均售價的增加，抵消了快閃記憶體位出貨量的下降，而 HDD 收入則略有下降。16% 的同比增長是由閃存平均售價的上漲所推動的。消費者收入佔總收入的 18%，為 7 億美元。

Sequentially, the 7% decrease was due to lower flash and HDD bit shipments, partially offset by higher ASPs in both flash and HDD. The 5% year-over-year increase was driven by improved flash ASPs and bit shipments.

環比下降 7% 是由於快閃記憶體和 HDD 位元出貨量下降，但被快閃記憶體和 HDD 平均售價上漲部分抵消。年成長 5% 是由於快閃記憶體平均售價和位元出貨量的提高。

For fiscal year 2024, revenue was $13 billion, up 6% from fiscal year 2023. Non-GAAP gross margin increased 7.1 percentage points to 22.8% and non-GAAP operating margin increased 8.7 percentage points to 3.9%. Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.20. Looking at end markets for fiscal year 2024, cloud revenue increased 2% year-over-year due to higher demand for capacity enterprise HDDs and improved pricing. For the year, client and consumer revenue grew by 7% and 9%, respectively, due to higher Flash bit shipments.

2024 財年營收為 130 億美元，較 2023 財年成長 6%。非公認會計準則毛利率增加 7.1 個百分點至 22.8%，非公認會計準則營業利益率增加 8.7 個百分點至 3.9%。非公認會計準則每股虧損 0.20 美元。展望 2024 財年的終端市場，由於對容量企業級 HDD 的需求增加和價格上漲，雲端收入年增 2%。今年，由於快閃記憶體比特出貨量增加，客戶端和消費者收入分別成長了 7% 和 9%。

Turning now to revenue by segment. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Flash revenue was $1.8 billion, up 3% sequentially and 28% year-over-year. Compared to last quarter, Flash ASPs were up 14% on a blended basis and 11% on a like-for-like basis. Bit shipments decreased 7% sequentially and 3% compared to last year as we proactively mixed Flash bits to maximize profitability.

現在來看看各部門的收入。第四財季，Flash營收為18億美元，季增3%，年增28%。與上一季相比，Flash 平均售價綜合上漲 14%，較去年同期上漲 11%。由於我們積極混合閃存比特以最大化盈利能力，比特出貨量環比下降 7%，與去年相比下降 3%。

HDD revenue was $2 billion, up 14% from last quarter as exabyte shipments increased 12% and average price per unit increased 12% to $163. Compared to the fiscal fourth quarter of 2023, HDD revenue grew 55%, while total exabyte shipments and average price per unit were up 72% and 64%, respectively.

HDD 營收為 20 億美元，較上一季成長 14%，因為 EB 出貨量成長了 12%，每單位平均價格上漲了 12%，達到 163 美元。與 2023 財年第四季相比，HDD 營收成長了 55%，而總 EB 出貨量和每單位平均價格分別上漲了 72% 和 64%。

Moving to the rest of the income statement, please note my comments will be related to non-GAAP results unless stated otherwise. Our focus on improving through-cycle profitability in both Flash and HDD has shown great progress.

轉到損益表的其餘部分，請注意，除非另有說明，否則我的評論將與非 GAAP 結果相關。我們專注於提高快閃記憶體和 HDD 的整個週期獲利能力，並取得了巨大進展。

In the fiscal fourth quarter, total gross margin reached 36.3% well above the guidance range. Gross margin improved by 7 percentage points sequentially and 32.4 percentage points year-on-year due to better pricing and cost reduction as well as higher volume. Within Flash, by proactively allocating bits between end markets and executing on our cost reduction initiatives, we have improved gross margin for four consecutive quarters. Flash gross margin was 36.5%, up 9.1 percentage points compared to last quarter and 48.4 percentage points year-over-year.

第四財季總毛利率達36.3%，遠高於預期範圍。由於定價更優、成本降低以及銷售量增加，毛利率較上月提高 7 個百分點，較去年同期成長 32.4 個百分點。在 Flash 領域，透過積極在終端市場之間分配位元並執行成本削減計劃，我們連續四個季度提高了毛利率。Flash毛利率為36.5%，較上一季上升9.1個百分點，較去年同期上升48.4個百分點。

In HDD, by offering a leading product portfolio and running efficient manufacturing operations focused on cost discipline, we continue to make progress in improving profitability. We delivered a gross margin of 36.1%, exceeding the long-term target range, up 5 percentage points sequentially and 15.4 percentage points compared to fiscal fourth quarter of 2023.

在 HDD 領域，透過提供領先的產品組合和注重成本控制的高效製造運營，我們在提高盈利能力方面不斷取得進展。我們的毛利率達到 36.1%，超出長期目標範圍，季增 5 個百分點，較 2023 財年第四季成長 15.4 個百分點。

Operating expenses were $700 million for the quarter, above our guided range, primarily due to higher variable compensation associated with better-than-expected profitability. Operating income was $666 million, tax expense was $17 million, earnings per share was $1.44.

本季營運費用為 7 億美元，高於我們的指導範圍，主要原因是獲利能力優於預期導致浮動薪酬增加。營業收入為 6.66 億美元，稅費為 1,700 萬美元，每股收益為 1.44 美元。

Operating cash flow was $366 million and free cash flow was $282 million. Cash capital expenditures, which include the purchase of property, plant and equipment, and activity related to Flash joint ventures on the cash flow statement represented a cash outflow of $84 million.

經營現金流為 3.66 億美元，自由現金流為 2.82 億美元。現金資本支出（包括購買物業、廠房和設備以及現金流量表上與 Flash 合資企業相關的活動）代表 8,400 萬美元的現金流出。

For fiscal year 2024, cash capital expenditures were $244 million or 1.9% of revenue, excluding the proceeds from the sale leaseback of our Milpitas facility. Year-over-year, this represented a 69% decline.

2024 財年的現金資本支出為 2.44 億美元，佔營收的 1.9%，不包括我們米爾皮塔斯工廠售後回租所得。與去年同期相比，下降了 69%。

Fourth quarter inventory was up from the prior quarter at $3.3 billion. With days of inventory increasing from 119 days to 126 days. A decline in HDD inventory was more than offset by an increase in Flash inventory. Gross debt outstanding was $7.5 billion at the end of the fiscal fourth quarter. Cash and cash equivalents were $1.9 billion, and total liquidity was $4.1 billion including undrawn revolver capacity of $2.2 billion. During the quarter, we paid down the remaining $300 million of the delayed draw term loan.

第四季庫存較上一季增加 33 億美元。庫存天數從119天增加到126天。HDD 庫存的下降被 Flash 庫存的增加所抵消。第四財季末未償還債務總額為 75 億美元。現金和現金等價物為 19 億美元，總流動資金為 41 億美元，其中包括 22 億美元的未提取循環信貸額度。本季度，我們償還了剩餘的 3 億美元延期提款定期貸款。

I'll now turn to the fiscal first quarter non-GAAP guidance. We anticipate both Flash and HDD revenue and gross margin to improve on a sequential basis as we continue to drive improvements in profitability across our businesses. We anticipate revenue to be in the range of $4 billion to $4.2 billion. Gross margin is expected to be between 37% and 39%. We expect operating expenses to increase slightly to a range of $695 million to $715 million.

現在我將轉向第一財季非公認會計準則指引。隨著我們繼續推動各項業務獲利能力的提高，我們預計快閃記憶體和 HDD 的營收和毛利率都將持續提高。我們預計營收將在 40 億美元至 42 億美元之間。預計毛利率在37%至39%之間。我們預計營運費用將小幅增加至 6.95 億美元至 7.15 億美元之間。

A decrease in variable compensation will be offset by the synergy costs as we continue to make progress executing on the separation plans. Included in this range are dis-synergy costs of $15 million to $25 million. We expect the synergy costs in the fiscal second quarter to be between $35 million and $45 million. Interest and expenses are anticipated to be approximately $110 million.

隨著我們繼續推動分離計畫的實施，浮動薪資的減少將被協同成本所抵銷。此範圍內包括 1500 萬美元至 2500 萬美元的不協同成本。我們預計第二財季的協同成本將在 3,500 萬美元至 4,500 萬美元之間。預計利息和費用約為1.1億美元。

Tax rate is expected to be between 15% and 17%. We expect earnings per share of $1.55 to $1.85 based on approximately 360 million shares outstanding. As shown in our guidance, we remain committed to driving higher profitability while maintaining focus on cost and capital discipline.

預計稅率在15%至17%之間。基於約 3.6 億股流通股，我們預計每股收益為 1.55 美元至 1.85 美元。正如我們的指導所示，我們將繼續致力於提高獲利能力，同時專注於成本和資本紀律。

I'll now turn the call back over to David.

我現在將電話轉回給大衛。

Thanks, Wissam. Today's results and guidance underscore Western Digital's strong execution with promising growth opportunities ahead. We delivered solid results as we doubled down on our strategic initiatives and product road map, capitalizing on robust growth prospects for both Flash and HDD. The emergence of the AI data cycle marks an incredibly exciting transformation in our industry, driving fundamental shifts across our end markets.

謝謝，Wissam。現今的業績和預期凸顯了西部數據的強勁執行力以及未來良好的成長機會。我們加倍努力實施策略性措施和產品路線圖，充分利用快閃記憶體和硬碟的強勁成長前景，取得了穩健的業績。人工智慧資料週期的出現標誌著我們行業發生了令人難以置信的激動人心的轉變，推動了我們終端市場的根本性轉變。

Looking ahead to fiscal year '25, we are well positioned to leverage our leadership positions to spearhead innovative technologies and deliver unparalleled value for our customers. Peter, let's begin the Q&A.

展望25財年，我們已做好準備，利用我們的領導地位引領創新技術，為我們的客戶提供無與倫比的價值。彼得，我們開始問答。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

CJ Muse, Cantor Fitzgerald.

CJ Muse、康托·菲茨傑拉德。

Good afternoon and thank you for taking the question. I guess I would like to focus my question around HDD gross margins, truly impressive outlook in the actual results. I was hoping you could speak to your contracted supply today, your pricing visibility into the second half of the calendar year and whether that extends into calendar '25. And as part of that, how we should think about the progression of HDD gross margins as we go into September, December and beyond. Thank you.

下午好，感謝您回答這個問題。我想把我的問題集中在 HDD 毛利率上，實際結果的前景確實令人印象深刻。我希望您能談談今天的合約供應情況、今年下半年的定價可見度以及是否延續到25年。作為其中的一部分，我們應該如何看待 9 月、12 月及以後 HDD 毛利率的趨勢。謝謝。

Yes, sure. Thanks, CJ. So yes, we were very happy with where the HDD business is at. We've -- we spent a long time focused on getting our manufacturing footprint in the right spot and a lot of cost optimization there now that the volume ramps back, it puts us in a strong position, plus the products, right?

是的，當然。謝謝，CJ。是的，我們對 HDD 業務的現狀非常滿意。我們花了很長時間專注於讓我們的製造足跡位於正確的位置，並且在那裡進行了大量成本優化，現在產量回升，它使我們處於強勢地位，還有產品，對嗎？

The continued strong adoption of UltraSMR, those drives are great for us. They're great for our customers. They're leading capacity points. So when you put it all together, we were able to deliver past our gross margin target in that business. Some of the historians around here tell me it's like the best gross margin ever. And the good news, as you said, is it's going higher.

UltraSMR 的持續大力採用，這些驅動器對我們來說非常有用。它們對我們的客戶來說非常棒。它們是領先的容量點。因此，綜合考慮所有因素，我們能夠超越該業務的毛利率目標。這裡的一些歷史學家告訴我，這是有史以​​來最好的毛利率。正如您所說，好消息是它正在走高。

So we got good supply-demand balance that's giving us good visibility. Throughout the rest of the calendar year, we pretty much know where every drive is going to go at this point, we made, I think, a really significant transition this past quarter and that we moved up our request to our customers to give us visibility 52 weeks ahead, so a 52-week lead time on HDDs. Now the reason that's so important is the cycle time underneath to build an HDD is about 50 weeks.

因此，我們獲得了良好的供需平衡，這為我們提供了良好的可見性。在今年餘下的時間裡，我們基本上知道每個硬碟的走向，我認為，我們在上個季度做出了一個非常重大的轉變，我們向客戶提出了要求，讓我們能夠提前 52 週了解情況，因此 HDD 的交貨時間為 52 週。現在，這一點非常重要，因為建造 HDD 的周期時間約為 50 週。

So we've been working very hard to drive the technology, drive our manufacturing, but also change the business practices of this business to give us the visibility that allows us to really align our investment with our customer demand. Our customers have responded well to that request, and we now have visibility for the entire fiscal year from a number of our biggest customers. Others are still -- we're still working through it with them.

因此，我們一直在努力推動技術發展、推動製造業，同時也改變這項業務的商業實踐，以增強我們的可見性，讓我們能夠真正將投資與客戶需求結合。我們的客戶對該請求做出了積極的回應，現在我們可以從一些最大的客戶那裡了解整個財政年度的情況。其他人仍在——我們仍在與他們一起努力解決這個問題。

But to wrap it all up, we're -- we're very happy with where the margins are. We continue to see margins going higher in this business as we continue to innovate. If we continue to innovate, deliver better TCO to our customers, we're going to continue to drive margins higher and we've got a very robust road map to do that.

但總而言之，我們對目前的利潤率非常滿意。隨著我們不斷創新，我們看到該業務的利潤率不斷提高。如果我們繼續創新，為客戶提供更好的整體擁有成本 (TCO)，我們將繼續提高利潤率，而且我們有一個非常強大的路線圖來實現這一目標。

And we're now getting the visibility in place, in the business practices, to make sure we can keep supply and demand balance going far into the future. So hopefully, that addresses your question.

現在，我們在業務實踐中已經實現了可見性，以確保我們能夠在未來長期保持供需平衡。希望這能解答您的問題。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Joe Moore, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的喬摩爾。

Great. Thank you. I wanted to ask about NAND, and this kind of -- you have weaker volume in Q2, but good pricing. And we're seeing that everywhere that the volumes are sort of disappointing, but the pricing has still been good. And usually, you sort of think about needing good demand for pricing to go up. So can you just talk about that dynamic, and what do you think happens over the back half of the year with supply and demand for NAND?

偉大的。謝謝。我想問一下有關 NAND 的問題，這種——第二季度的銷量較弱，但定價良好。我們看到各地的銷售都有些令人失望，但定價仍然很好。通常，你會認為需要良好的需求才能推動價格上漲。那麼，您能否談談這種動態，您認為今年下半年 NAND 的供需情況將會如何？

As you know, Joe, it's a very dynamic market. So we're still seeing -- in the negotiated markets, we're still seeing good pricing increases, especially enterprise SSD, and that's something we're very excited about. We see -- we saw really good sequential growth in enterprise SSD, and we're expecting very good sequential growth in the next quarter. Some of the more transactional markets where you have more players involved, and frankly, some players that don't produce their own raw NAND, pricing is a little more dynamic and demand in general in consumer is a little bit weak.

喬，正如你所知，這是一個非常活躍的市場。因此，我們仍然看到 - 在談判市場中，我們仍然看到良好的價格上漲，特別是企業級 SSD，這是我們非常興奮的事情。我們看到——企業級 SSD 實現了非常好的連續成長，我們預計下個季度也將實現非常好的連續成長。在一些交易性較強的市場中，有更多的參與者參與，坦白說，有些參與者不生產自己的原始 NAND，定價更具動態性，消費者的整體需求有點弱。

So in those markets, we see a little more demand headwind, a little more, not quite as aggressive as pricing moves, but in the negotiated markets, we still see good pricing. And then you put mix all on top of that to come up with a quarter-by-quarter number where you got quite a bit of variability. But as we go through the back half of the year, we continue to see strong demand in Enterprise SSD.

因此，在這些市場中，我們看到需求逆風稍微多一些，稍微多一些，不像價格變動那麼激進，但在協商市場中，我們仍然看到良好的定價。然後你把所有這些混合在一起，得出一個季度數字，其中存在相當大的可變性。但隨著下半年的到來，我們繼續看到企業級 SSD 的強勁需求。

We see the PC market really kind of maybe a little bit of an inventory rebalancing here going on in the next quarter, but we see that improving as we go throughout the year. I think that's a normal process given a couple of really strong quarters here in the first part of the recovery of NAND pricing. So we still see demand outstripping supply through the second half of the year. And quite frankly, our modeling shows throughout next calendar year as well.

我們看到個人電腦市場在下一季確實可能出現庫存再平衡的情況，但隨著全年的推進，這種情況將會改善。我認為這是一個正常的過程，因為在 NAND 價格復甦的初期，這裡有幾個非常強勁的季度。因此，我們仍然認為下半年的需求將超過供應。坦白說，我們的模型也顯示出明年的情況也是如此。

Very helpful. Thank you.

非常有幫助。謝謝。

Thanks, Joe.

謝謝，喬。

Tim Arcuri, UBS.

瑞銀的提姆·阿庫裡。

Hey, good afternoon. This is Grant Joslin on for Tim Arcuri. I was hoping you could talk a little bit about how you view the balance sheet and how you want to prioritize the free cash flow generated between now and the separation? And any updated thoughts on the appropriate leverage for each of the two segments? Thanks.

嘿，下午好。這是 Grant Joslin 為 Tim Arcuri 主持的節目。我希望您能稍微談談您如何看待資產負債表，以及您希望如何優先考慮從現在到分離期間產生的自由現金流？對於這兩個部分各自的適當槓桿率，您有什麼最新的想法嗎？謝謝。

Yes, sure. As I noted in the prepared remarks, in Q4, we paid down the remaining $300 million of the delayed draw term loan. And so as we generate cash, our focus is to continue to strengthen the balance sheet. With respect to the second part of the question related to question related to the capital structure, obviously, we're making good progress as we prepare for the separation, we will be, as we get closer to the time of the separation, will be hosting Capital Market Days or Investor Days to discuss that in more detail.

是的，當然。正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，在第四季度，我們償還了剩餘的 3 億美元延期提款定期貸款。因此，當我們產生現金時，我們的重點是繼續加強資產負債表。關於與資本結構相關的問題的第二部分，顯然，我們在準備分離方面取得了良好的進展，隨著分離時間的臨近，我們將舉辦資本市場日或投資者日來更詳細地討論這個問題。

But as we've always said, our aim is to create two world-class companies that are competitive in their own spaces. And so their cap structures would be reflecting their -- the profile from a profitability, cash generation and market dynamics as well.

但正如我們一直所說，我們的目標是創建兩家在各自領域具有競爭力的世界級公司。因此，它們的上限結構將反映它們的獲利能力、現金產生能力和市場動態。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。

Aaron Rakers, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的 Aaron Rakers。

Yes, thanks for taking a question. One clarification I just want to throw out there. Is the dis-synergy costs all in operating expenses, or is there anything in COGS? And then from a question perspective, when I look at the NAND business, and I think you guys talked about in the prepared remarks of growing kind of mid- to high teens sequentially on a capacity ship basis this next quarter. I guess where my math leads me is to think that your underlying assumption would be maybe more of a flattish ASP trend in the September quarter. I guess my question is, is that kind of how you're thinking about that? And if so, why would we think that pricing would be flattish? Is there a mix dynamic, something that we should consider in that? Thank you.

是的，感謝您提出問題。我只想澄清一點。不協同成本是否全部包含在營運費用中，還是包含在 COGS 中？然後從問題的角度來看，當我看 NAND 業務時，我想你們在準備好的評論中談到了下個季度的出貨量將按容量順序連續增長 15% 到 20% 左右。我想我的數學計算結果會讓我想到，你的基本假設可能是 9 月季度的平均售價趨勢將更加平穩。我想我的問題是，您是這麼想的嗎？如果是這樣，我們為什麼會認為定價會持平？是否存在混合動態，我們應該考慮這一點嗎？謝謝。

I'll take the second part of the question. Kind of remember the first part now.

我將回答問題的第二部分。現在有點記得第一部分了。

Let me take the first part related to the dis-synergy costs. The question was whether they were split -- they were all in operating expenses or there's anything in COGS. So Aaron, the numbers that I quoted, the $15 million to $25 million, are all in operating expenses. There will be some dis-synergy costs in the COGS, but they're really not material. And so that's why we didn't call them out. And they're reflected also in our guidance for Q1.

讓我先談談與不協同成本有關的第一部分。問題是它們是否被分開——它們都是營運費用還是有任何成本在 COGS 中。所以 Aaron，我引用的數字，1500 萬美元到 2500 萬美元，都是營運費用。銷貨成本中會有一些不協同成本，但這些成本其實並不重要。這就是我們沒有叫出他們的原因。這些也反映在我們對第一季的指導中。

Yes. And Aaron, on the NAND pricing, I think you kind of answered your question as you went through there, just to confirm it. There's a huge mix dynamic. So we've got, like everybody else, we're seeing some weakness in the consumer. And so consumer is a third of our Flash portfolio.

是的。Aaron，關於 NAND 定價，我想你已經回答了你的問題，只是為了確認。存在巨大的混合動態。因此，和其他人一樣，我們也看到了消費者的一些疲軟跡象。因此，消費者產品占我們 Flash 產品組合的三分之一。

So that's a big business, and that has very we've always talked about higher than average through-cycle margins. So that's a bit of a headwind. And then it's a seasonally strong quarter for mobile. So there's a big mix dynamic there as well. So that -- but you're thinking about it the right way.

所以這是一項大生意，而且我們一直在談論它具有高於平均水平的周期利潤率。所以這有點不利。對於行動產業來說，這是一個季節性強勁的季度。因此，那裡也存在著很大的混合動態。所以——但你的想法是正確的。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Karl Ackerman, BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的卡爾‧阿克曼。

Yes, thank you. One clarification question and a question, if I may. For my clarification question, is the PCIe Gen 5 Enterprise SSD at a hyperscaler separate, or in addition to your sampling of 64 terabyte SSDs in the second half of this calendar year? I guess as you address that question, could you speak to the breadth of customer design wins you have on enterprise SSDs, which are indicative of your growing share of SSD relative to your overall portfolio mix?

是的，謝謝。如果可以的話，我有一個澄清問題和一個問題。我想澄清一下，超大規模的 PCIe Gen 5 企業級 SSD 是獨立的嗎？還是說是今年下半年對 64 TB SSD 進行採樣的補充？我想，當您回答這個問題時，您能否談談您在企業級 SSD 方面獲得的客戶設計勝利的廣度，這表明您的 SSD 份額相對於您的整體產品組合而言不斷增長？

Yes. They are two separate products targeted to different parts of the AI data cycle. So the compute product that you mentioned, what we call a compute product, because it's designed to feed data into GPUs and keep the pipeline full. So very high performance, very high-performance NAND.

是的。它們是針對人工智慧資料週期不同部分的兩個獨立產品。所以您提到的計算產品，我們稱之為計算產品，因為它旨在將資料輸入 GPU 並保持管道滿載。因此性能非常高，NAND 性能非常高。

That product is a qualification in a hyperscaler, and we're getting a lot of interest in that product across the AI ecosystem of anybody that's building an AI training infrastructure, because we believe that product is the best read performance and really good power efficiency, and that's what everybody is looking for in that market.

該產品是超大規模的資質產品，我們對任何正在建立人工智慧訓練基礎設施的人工智慧生態系統中的該產品都非常感興趣，因為我們相信該產品具有最佳的讀取性能和非常好的功率效率，而這正是市場上每個人都在尋找的。

The 64 terabyte drive is a separate product that's targeted at building these high-performance data lakes for AI training, and we're looking at that across the kind of same sort of customers. Anybody that's building an AI training infrastructure is looking for those kind of products. And that's in addition to the products we had qualified enterprise SSD, we had qualified two or three of the hyperscalers before the downturn, and those products are picking back up now as well. So we have a much -- we were -- we were happy with the portfolio and now we keep adding to it. And those products are really well targeted to where the demand is in enterprise SSD, which is a lot of pull on people building AI training infrastructure.

64TB 硬碟是一款獨立的產品，旨在為 AI 訓練建立高性能資料湖，我們正在針對同類客戶進行研究。任何建構人工智慧訓練基礎設施的人都在尋找這類產品。除了我們已獲得企業級 SSD 認證的產品之外，在經濟衰退之前，我們還已獲得兩到三家超大規模企業的認證，這些產品現在也正在回升。因此，我們對投資組合非常滿意，現在我們將繼續增加投資組合。這些產品確實很好地滿足了企業級 SSD 的需求，這對建立 AI 訓練基礎設施的人來說有很大的吸引力。

Thank you. I'll get back in queue.

謝謝。我會回到隊列中。

Thanks, Karl.

謝謝，卡爾。

Krish Sankar, TD Cowen.

Krish Sankar，TD Cowen。

Hey, guys, this is Hadi for Krish. Two-part question, if I may. On nearline HDD congrats on great progress there. This is the second quarter of above 50% market share for you guys, versus historically your share being in the low 40s. I wonder if you think this has anything to do with your main peer transitioning from PMR to HAMR, or do you think this is more tied to specific customer exposure? And also, I wonder if you think you'd have that capacity within fiscal '25, given that your exabyte shipments are at all-time high? Thank you.

嘿，大家好，我是 Krish 的 Hadi。如果可以的話，我的問題分為兩部分。祝賀近線硬碟取得了巨大進步。這是你們第二次佔據超過 50% 的市場份額，而歷史上你們的市場份額一直在 40% 出頭。我想知道您是否認為這與您的主要同行從 PMR 過渡到 HAMR 有關，或者您認為這與特定客戶曝光更相關？另外，考慮到您的 EB 出貨量處於歷史最高水平，我想知道您是否認為您會在 25 財年內擁有這樣的產能？謝謝。

We think that the share in our products is because they are great products, right? We're delivering the highest TCO products. We've had this road map for a long time. None of our customers are surprised by our road map. They know about our road map, quite frankly, years in advance, and we work with them very closely.

我們認為我們的產品之所以有如此大的份額是因為它們是優質產品，對嗎？我們提供最高 TCO 的產品。我們很久以前就有這個路線圖了。我們的客戶對我們的路線圖並不感到驚訝。坦白說，他們提前幾年就知道了我們的路線圖，我們與他們密切合作。

So we believe we're providing the highest capacity -- well, we are providing the highest capacity drives at scale. They're easily qualified.

因此，我們相信我們提供的是最高容量——嗯，我們提供的是規模最高容量的驅動器。他們很容易就獲得資格。

The architecture is well known to our customers. and they deliver absolutely the best TCO. And if you're building a data center architecture at the scale our customers do, TCO is incredibly important. And now we've delivered a 32-terabyte drive. First time anybody has crossed the 30 terabyte at scale, that's sampling really great TCO.

該架構為我們的客戶所熟知。並且它們提供了絕對最佳的 TCO。如果您要建立與我們客戶規模相當的資料中心架構，那麼 TCO 就非常重要。現在我們已經推出了 32TB 的硬碟。這是第一次有人突破 30TB 的規模，代表著非常高的 TCO。

And then the UltraSMR side of it, these drives can deliver 20% more capacity with UltraSMR versus a typical SMR drive, which is 10% more capacity. That's great for our customers. They get more capacity per unit. It's great for us because we get 20% more capacity or the incremental 10% without adding any COGS to the system, so that's margin accretive. That's very nice, and we're seeing now the third hyperscaler starting to adopt our UltraSMR technology starting in the second half of the year.

然後就 UltraSMR 方面而言，這些驅動器可以透過 UltraSMR 提供多 20% 的容量，而典型的 SMR 驅動器則多 10% 的容量。這對我們的客戶來說非常好。他們獲得了更多的單位容量。這對我們來說很棒，因為我們獲得了 20% 的額外容量或增量 10%，而無需在系統中添加任何 COGS，因此這可以增加利潤。這非常好，我們現在看到第三個超大規模企業從今年下半年開始採用我們的 UltraSMR 技術。

So we just feel really good where the portfolio is. We think this portfolio has been in development for decades to get to this point. These were decisions that were made a long time ago, given the lead times in this business. And so we believe customers are just responding to great products, and the TCO increases in the supply-demand balance allow us to also work on the pricing side of it as well.

因此，我們對投資組合的現狀感到非常滿意。我們認為這個投資組合已經發展了幾十年才達到這一點。考慮到該業務的交付週期，這些都是很久以前做出的決定。因此，我們相信客戶只是對優質產品做出反應，而供需平衡中的 TCO 增加也使我們能夠在定價方面開展工作。

So as far as capacity, look, I mentioned it earlier, we got to this 52-week lead time that was really important because now we're starting to get forecast from our customers a year out. It gives us the ability to plan for capacity. So as those forecasts come in and we roll them up and we work with our customers and we look at that, what that picture looks like, then we'll be in a position to address this issue of do we add capacity. But we're not going to add capacity for a two-quarter increase in volume.

就產能而言，你看，我之前提到過，我們達到了 52 週的交貨時間，這非常重要，因為現在我們開始從客戶那裡獲得一年後的預測。它使我們能夠規劃容量。因此，當這些預測出來後，我們會將其匯總起來，並與我們的客戶合作，看看情況是什麼樣的，然後我們就能解決是否增加容量的問題。但我們不會為了兩季的銷售成長而增加產能。

We think this is much more sustained than that. As I talked about, AI is going to be a big driver, the AI data cycle will be a big driver for HDDs as well. We see sustained demand into the future. But we want to see the commitments from our customers and them to give us that visibility, and we now have that in place. And as we get the whole market, all of our customers looking at that over the next quarter or so, we'll have a better way to answer that question of do we plan to add capacity.

我們認為這比那更持久。正如我所說的，人工智慧將成為一個巨大的驅動力，人工智慧資料週期也將成為 HDD 的一個巨大的驅動力。我們預計未來的需求將持續存在。但我們希望看到客戶的承諾，並讓他們給予我們這種可見性，現在我們已經做到了這一點。隨著我們進入整個市場，所有客戶在接下來的一個季度左右關注這個問題，我們將有更好的方法來回答我們是否計劃增加產能的問題。

But for right now, we're happy with where our capacity is, and what we're able to ship and mix keeps going up, and we're able to ship more exabytes per quarter based on mix.

但就目前而言，我們對我們的產能感到滿意，我們能夠運送和混合的數據不斷增加，並且我們能夠根據混合情況每季運送更多的 EB。

Thanks a lot, Dave.

非常感謝，戴夫。

Amit Daryanani, Evercore.

阿米特·達亞納尼 (Amit Daryanani)，Evercore。

I guess maybe just focusing on the HDD side again, I think the fear everyone is going to have is, are you sitting at close to peak performance at this point, both from a -- how much exabyte you are shipping versus the last week, which I think within 10 exabytes of that? And where the gross margins are.

我想也許只是再次關注 HDD 方面，我認為每個人都會擔心的是，你現在是否處於接近峰值性能的狀態，無論是從 - 與上週相比，你發送了多少 EB，我認為在 10 EB 以內？以及毛利率是多少。

So maybe if you can just focus on gross margins up, can you just talk about what is the right way to think about HDD gross margins assuming exabytes keep growing, and your conviction that pricing can remain favorable on the HDD side or through the back of this year and potentially into '25?

因此，如果您可以只關注毛利率的上升，您能否談談假設EB持續增長，如何正確看待HDD毛利率，以及您是否確信HDD方面的定價能夠保持有利，或者在今年年底甚至可能持續到25年？

Yes. I think the whole key to that question is to continue to innovate. It's just as simple as that. If we continue to innovate and build a better product and deliver a better TCO to our customers, we're able to continue to participate in the value of that R&D that we're spending. We just announced a new drive that's 32 terabytes, which is 13% more capacity than next biggest drive on the market, which is our 28-terabyte drive.

是的。我認為這個問題的關鍵在於不斷創新。就這麼簡單。如果我們繼續創新並打造更好的產品並為客戶提供更好的整體擁有成本，我們將能夠繼續參與我們所花費的研發價值。我們剛剛發布了一款容量為 32 TB 的新硬碟，其容量比市場上第二大硬碟（即我們的 28 TB 硬碟）高出 13%。

So as long as we continue to do that, we go to our customers, and they get a better value proposition, and we're able to participate in that. And as long as we continue to drive the road map forward, and I have a tremendous amount of conviction that that's the case, we're going to do that. We will continue to drive margins higher in this business.

因此，只要我們繼續這樣做，我們就會面向客戶，他們就會獲得更好的價值主張，我們也能參與其中。只要我們繼續推進路線圖，我們就會這樣做，我對此深信不疑。我們將繼續提高該業務的利潤率。

Maybe just help me clarify this, is the performance on the HDD side, more a reflection of your peer has not had HAMR come out yet. And once that comes out, perhaps market share and gross margins normalize, I guess, the feel would be, is this all durable? Or does it go away from a margin perspective, once Seagate has HAMR in volume production with the hyperscalers?

也許只是幫我澄清一下，HDD 方面的性能，更多地反映了你的同行還沒有推出 HAMR。一旦這一消息公佈，也許市場份額和毛利率就會恢復正常，我想，人們會覺得，這一切都能持久嗎？或者，一旦希捷與超大規模企業合作實現 HAMR 大量生產，從利潤角度來看，這種情況是否會消失？

No. Like I said, it has to do of continuing to deliver greater TCO. The underlying technology that you're delivering on the product I don't think matters that much, right? Customers want more density in the same slot and we're able to deliver that. We have a road map to deliver that. Other people in the industry have a road map to deliver that, and we're going to continue to drive TCO down.

不。就像我說的，它必須繼續提供更高的 TCO。我認為您在產品上提供的底層技術並不那麼重要，對嗎？客戶希望在同一個插槽中實現更高的密度，我們能夠滿足這項需求。我們有實現這目標的路線圖。業內其他人已經制定了實現這一目標的路線圖，我們將繼續降低 TCO。

We get better visibility into ordering. I've talked a lot about, I think, hard drives have been an industry that's been persistently oversupplied given the client to cloud transition. We're past all of that now, and I think we're seeing what the dynamics of the industry are like when we get the supply-demand balance right. We get our manufacturing footprint the way we want it.

我們可以更好地了解訂購情況。我已經談了很多，我認為，由於客戶端向雲端的轉變，硬碟產業一直處於供應過剩的狀態。現在我們已經度過了這一切，我認為當我們實現正確的供需平衡時，我們會看到行業的動態。我們以自己想要的方式獲得製造足跡。

We deliver world-class leading products that provide enormous amounts of value to our customers. And that drives margin higher because it's a great value proposition for our customers. It's a good deal for them. It's a good deal for us. And I think that is incredibly durable.

我們提供世界一流的領先產品，為我們的客戶帶來巨大的價值。這會提高利潤率，因為這對我們的客戶來說是一項非常有價值的主張。這對他們來說是一筆好交易。這對我們來說是一筆好交易。我認為它非常耐用。

Thank you very much, sir.

非常感謝您，先生。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Vijay Rakesh, Mizuho.

瑞穗的 Vijay Rakesh。

Hey guys, I mean, obviously, very solid execution on the gross margin side, I think, is the highest in five years. But as you look at the road map forward, can you level set where you think hard disk drive and NAND margins could get to? Because I think in the past, obviously, NAND margins have gone like 45%, 50%. And I think we see hard disk drive margins at 38%, 39%. Could you help us like how to walk to the margin ARPU going out?

嘿，夥計們，我的意思是，顯然，毛利率方面的執行非常穩健，我認為是五年來最高的。但是，當您展望未來路線圖時，您能否確定硬碟和 NAND 利潤可以達到的水平？因為我認為在過去，NAND 的利潤率顯然已經達到了 45%、50%。我認為硬碟的利潤率為 38% 至 39%。您能否幫助我們了解如何實現邊際 ARPU 呢？

Look, so next quarter, margins in both business are going up, which is what we want. And I think as long as we continue, in the NAND business, we, again, we have to continue to innovate and bring great products to market, and I think our portfolio is as strong as it's ever been. And we've always been strong for a long time in consumer. I mean that's been a stalwart of the business for a very, very long time.

你看，下個季度，這兩個業務的利潤率都會上升，這正是我們想要的。我認為，只要我們繼續從事 NAND 業務，我們就必須繼續創新，將優秀的產品推向市場，我認為我們的產品組合將像以往一樣強大。我們在消費者領域一直保持強勁勢頭。我的意思是，很長一段時間以來，這一直是我們業務的支柱。

We have a very strong client portfolio. We have a very strong gaming portfolio. We've always been good in mobile and now we have enterprise SSD, where we're building out the portfolio, right at the time where the AI data cycle is really driving a significant amount of demand.

我們擁有非常強大的客戶組合。我們擁有非常強大的遊戲產品組合。我們在行動領域一直表現良好，現在我們擁有企業級 SSD，我們正在建立產品組合，此時 AI 資料週期確實推動了大量需求。

So I think from a technology perspective and where the portfolio is positioned, we're in very, very good shape. At that point, we look at long-term supply-demand balance of the business. We all know it's a cyclical business. You have to add CapEx in very large increments to bring on capacity, nodal transitions give you more capacity.

因此我認為從技術角度和投資組合定位來看，我們的狀況非常非常好。此時，我們會專注於業務的長期供需平衡。我們都知道這是一個週期性的行業。您必須以非常大的增量添加資本支出才能帶來容量，節點轉換可以為您提供更多容量。

We talked about this in our new era of NAND. I think this idea that the layer race and let's just put bigger and bigger nodes on the market and count on elasticity to soak up all the bits. Like I think that era of NAND is in the past, the era of NAND in the future is more strategic introduction of new nodes that add capacity, more innovation within the node on performance, power, capacity and so that, I think, is something that says the way we're going to manage our business is different than it has been in the past.

我們在 NAND 新時代中討論了這個問題。我認為這個想法就是層級競賽，讓我們把越來越大的節點投放到市場上，並依靠彈性來吸收所有的位元。我認為 NAND 時代已經過去，未來的 NAND 時代將更具策略性地引入增加容量的新節點，在效能、功率、容量等方面對節點進行更多創新，因此，我認為，這表明我們管理業務的方式與過去不同。

And then we look at just the overall supply-demand balance. And there's been not a lot of CapEx spending in NAND coming out of the downturn. And so, we see a good supply-demand balance. So we expect to see continued positive momentum in the portfolio. On HDD, this is a business that is, like I said in the prepared remarks, we think it's gone through a remarkable transformation over the last year, really.

然後我們只看整體的供需平衡。在經濟低迷時期，NAND 領域的資本支出並不多。因此，我們看到了良好的供需平衡。因此，我們預計投資組合將繼續保持積極勢頭。就 HDD 而言，正如我在準備好的發言中所說的那樣，我們認為這項業務在過去一年中確實經歷了顯著的轉變。

We're starting to see the results of this transformation that's been going on, quite frankly, for a long time. One is about getting through this client to cloud transition. Industry has been in that position for 15 years probably. So we're kind of through that now.

坦白說，我們開始看到這種持續了很長時間的轉變的成果。一是要完成從客戶端到雲端的轉變。工業界可能已經處於這種狀態 15 年了。我們現在差不多已經解決了這個問題。

Client is just a much, much smaller percent of the portfolio. Even if you look back to the past peak of our business, client was a much bigger percent just three, four, five years ago than it is today. So it's a cloud business now. We continue to deliver really strong TCO gains with our technology road map. And I think the business has a long road map on continuing to be able to drive better TCO for our customers.

客戶只佔投資組合很小的一部分。即使回顧我們業務過去的巔峰時期，三、四、五年前的客戶比例也比現在大得多。所以現在它是雲端業務。我們將繼續透過技術路線圖實現真正強勁的 TCO 收益。我認為，公司在繼續為客戶帶來更好的整體擁有成本 (TCO) 方面有著長期的發展路線圖。

And then on the demand side, you've got, again, you've got AI now the AI Data Cycle where HDD is going to be a big part of that on the input side, all of this data is stored on HDDs. And on the output side, people producing a lot more content to be stored on HDD. So we see a good demand environment, good business practices of getting the right visibility into how we should add capacity, so we don't end up in an oversupplied market. So I think the HDD business has structurally changed.

然後在需求方面，你又有了人工智慧，現在有了人工智慧資料循環，其中 HDD 將成為輸入方面的重要組成部分，所有這些資料都儲存在 HDD 上。在輸出方面，人們製作了更多內容儲存在硬碟上。因此，我們看到了良好的需求環境和良好的商業實踐，讓我們能夠正確地了解如何增加產能，這樣我們就不會陷入供過於求的市場。所以我認為 HDD 業務已經發生了結構性變化。

I see the margins going higher, and going higher in a structural way that will be maintained at a higher point. It's not a value proposition question. The value is really there. And like I said, we continue to drive TCO lower. We're going to continue to drive margins higher.

我認為利潤率會越來越高，而且會以結構性的方式不斷提高，並維持在較高的水平。這不是一個價值主張的問題。其價值確實存在。正如我所說的，我們將繼續降低 TCO。我們將繼續提高利潤率。

Wamsi Mohan, Bank of America.

美國銀行的 Wamsi Mohan。

Hi, yes. Thank you so much. I was wondering maybe you could square your comments a little bit on proactively mixing bits across end markets in a quarter where your bits shipment declined below what you had originally expected. But at the same time, you also had inventory build in the quarter.

你好，是的。太感謝了。我想知道您是否可以稍微談談關於在某個季度主動在終端市場上混合比特的問題，因為當時您的比特出貨量低於最初的預期。但同時，本季您也增加了庫存。

And as a clarification from a prior question, could you just help us think through in the September quarter, what is the like-for-like ASP trajectory for NAND as well. Thank you, sir.

作為對先前問題的澄清，您能否幫助我們思考一下 9 月季度 NAND 的同類 ASP 走勢如何？謝謝您，先生。

Okay. So first of all, the mix, I think, the first one was the mix question. So was the question in the quarter?

好的。因此首先，我認為，混合是第一個問題。那麼本季存在這個問題嗎？

Yes, in the fourth quarter, it's how we proactively mix the bits to generate better profitability.

是的，在第四季度，我們會主動混合各種因素來產生更好的獲利能力。

When bits were declining. Okay. So yes. I mean, look, I mean, I guess, in a big picture, we're always just looking at every market that we're in and what demand is on a week-over-week basis and what our customers are telling us, and we're trying to put the bits to where we're going to get the highest return.

當比特正在下降時。好的。是的。我的意思是，從大局來看，我們總是關注我們所處的每一個市場，以及每週的需求情況以及我們的客戶告訴我們的情況，我們正試圖把這些投入到可以獲得最高回報的地方。

We saw some headwinds in consumer. So we mixed into other parts of client business. And we also saw really good growth in enterprise SSD. I think we saw 60% sequential growth in enterprise SSD. So that provided a floor on kind of how we think about the mix side of it. And the second part of the question?

我們看到消費者面臨一些阻力。因此我們融入了客戶業務的其他部分。我們也看到企業級 SSD 的良好成長。我認為我們看到企業級 SSD 連續成長 60%。這為我們如何看待混合方面提供了一個基礎。那麼問題的第二部分呢？

Yes, maybe on the comments on the inventory, Wamsi, it's not unusual for exiting the June quarter for us to have inventory builds as we get prepared for the second half that tends to be more consumer oriented and sort of there's more shipments that typically take place. And so we're comfortable with that.

是的，也許關於庫存的評論，Wamsi，我們在 6 月季度結束時增加庫存並不罕見，因為我們要為下半年做準備，下半年往往更加以消費者為導向，而且通常會有更多的出貨量。因此我們對此感到滿意。

Yes. So on the like-for-like for the September quarter, we're expecting the ASPs in NAND to be slightly up in the sort of low single-digit percentage range.

是的。因此，與 9 月季度相比，我們預計 NAND 的平均售價將略有上漲，漲幅在個位數百分比範圍內。

Okay. Okay. Thank you so much.

好的。好的。太感謝了。

Thanks, Wamsi.

謝謝，Wamsi。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Toshiya Hari, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的 Toshiya Hari。

Hi, thank you so much for taking the question. I had one quick clarification and one question. On the clarification, the dis-synergies, we saw the $35 million to $45 million you guided to for the December quarter, is it fair to assume that's kind of a steady state for the combined business going forward post separation, or do those costs go away? Or do those costs potentially go up beyond separation? That's my clarification question.

您好，非常感謝您回答這個問題。我有一個快速澄清和一個問題。關於澄清和不協同效應，我們看到您為 12 月季度預測的收益為 3500 萬至 4500 萬美元，是否可以公平地假設這是分離後合併業務的穩定狀態，還是這些成本會消失？或者這些費用在分開後是否還會繼續增加？這是我要澄清的問題。

And then my question for Dave on the NAND side, are your fabs fully loaded at this point? I know at the trough of the cycle, you had cut pretty significantly along with your peers, but where are utilization rates today? And how should we think about fiscal '25 CapEx? Thank you.

然後我想問 NAND 方面的 Dave，您的晶圓廠現在是否已經滿載運轉了？我知道在周期的低谷，你們和同行一起大幅削減了開支，但今天的利用率是多少？我們該如何看待 25 財年的資本支出？謝謝。

Yes, thanks, Toshiya. Let me take the first part of the question. So with respect to the synergies costs that I discussed for the December quarter, they range in, and you noted $35 million to $45 million. It's fair to assume that this is where steady state will be until the separation and going forward.

是的，謝謝，Toshiya。讓我來回答問題的第一部分。因此，就我討論過的 12 月季度的協同效應成本而言，它們的範圍是 3500 萬美元到 4500 萬美元。可以合理地假設，在分離和繼續前進之前，這將是穩定狀態。

And then on the NAND, the fabs are -- we're running at full utilization. We don't have underutilization costs on NAND at this point. And then the third part of the question.

然後在 NAND 方面，我們的晶圓廠正在充分利用。目前，我們不存在 NAND 未充分利用的成本。然後是問題的第三部分。

On the CapEx.

關於資本支出。

FY25 CapEx.

FY25 資本支出。

Yes. So on the CapEx side, look, we're -- what I'm -- what I think, we will share is where we see CapEx in this current quarter. And from a cash CapEx perspective, for this quarter, I expect it to be more or less in line with the fiscal fourth quarter, which was around 2% of revenue.

是的。因此，在資本支出方面，你看，我們 - 我 - 我認為，我們將分享的是本季我們看到的資本支出情況。從現金資本支出的角度來看，對於本季度，我預計它將與第四財季大致持平，約為收入的 2%。

And our thoughts on CapEx with respect to basically future investments haven't changed, we'd like to continue to focus on the profitability of the business. And at this point in time, that's really our main focus.

我們對未來投資的資本支出想法基本上沒有改變，我們希望繼續專注於業務的獲利能力。目前，這確實是我們的主要關注點。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks Toshiya.

謝謝 Toshiya。

Steven Fox, Fox Research.

史蒂文‧福克斯，福克斯研究公司。

Hi, good afternoon. I was just wondering how -- given experience in prior cycles on the HDD side, and you mentioned the 52-week lead times, how do you sort of protect yourself against customers being overzealous with orders and then maybe disappointing you down the road? What are you doing to make sure customers live up to their promises? Thanks.

嗨，下午好。我只是想知道——鑑於 HDD 方面之前的周期經驗，以及您提到的 52 週的交貨時間，您如何保護自己免受客戶過度熱衷於訂單然後可能讓您失望的情況？您正在採取什麼措施來確保客戶履行他們的承諾？謝謝。

I mean, these are very big relationships with very big customers. So we're very close to them on a day-to-day basis. So that is clearly something we look for. But I think there's a lot of relationship value here as well. So we'll be on the lookout for that.

我的意思是，我們與非常大的客戶建立了非常牢固的關係。因此我們每天都與他們保持著密切的聯繫。所以這顯然是我們所尋找的東西。但我認為這裡也有很多關係價值。因此我們會密切關注這一點。

But we expect our customers to be fairly rational about this whole process. I mean, look, we're in an area of HDD where almost everybody that we talk to would like to have more HDDs right now.

但我們希望我們的客戶能夠相當理性地看待整個過程。我的意思是，你看，我們處於 HDD 領域，幾乎每個與我們交談的人都希望現在有更多的 HDD。

So I think everybody is understanding that giving us more visibility will allow us to set our manufacturing infrastructure in a way where we can satisfy the market without ending up in the situation we are in, in the down cycle, where we were having to really, really cut costs and quite frankly, move a lot of people off the payroll, which is an unpleasant exercise.

所以我想大家都明白，給予我們更多的透明度將使我們能夠以滿足市場需求的方式設置我們的製造基礎設施，而不會陷入我們現在的境地，在下行週期中，我們不得不大幅削減成本，坦率地說，還要裁掉很多員工，這是一種令人不快的做法。

So we'll stay very close to our customers. And we have also have a lot of information on kind of ordering patterns and all that kind of stuff. So we'll keep an eye out for that.

因此，我們將與客戶保持密切聯繫。我們也擁有大量有關訂購模式和諸如此類的資訊。因此我們會密切關注這一點。

Okay. Sure thing.

好的。當然可以。

Thanks, Steven.

謝謝，史蒂文。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Asiya Merchant, Citigroup.

花旗集團的 Asiya Merchant。

Great. Thank you for taking my question. If I may, just if you can talk a little bit about the industry structure that has changed and maybe how it reflects in your cost declines across both your Flash and HDD business. How we should think about that going forward, given that you see a favorable pricing environment and if you can balance that with maybe improved cost decline for both NAND and HDD? Thank you.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。如果可以的話，您能否稍微談談已經發生變化的行業結構，以及它如何反映在您的快閃記憶體和 HDD 業務的成本下降中。假設您看到有利的定價環境，並且您是否可以透過 NAND 和 HDD 成本下降來平衡這一點，我們應該如何看待未來的發展？謝謝。

Yes. So on the HDD side, there's been a couple of things that have been contributing to better margins getting here. One is just we reset the manufacturing base, and we've been coming off a very low number. So as we produce more and we get to full utilization, we get better cost per unit out of that. So that's been a good tailwind. But we're, as I talked about, we're at the point where we know where all the drives over the next couple of quarters are going.

是的。因此，就 HDD 方面而言，有幾個因素有助於提高利潤率。一是我們重置了製造基礎，現在我們的產量已經非常低了。因此，隨著我們生產更多產品並充分利用，我們可以獲得更優的單位成本。所以這是一個很好的順風。但正如我所說的，我們已經知道接下來幾季的所有動力將會流向何處。

And then the other part of it is as you said, technology-driven cost improvements, continuing to innovate, deliver better TCO, better cost dynamics. And we continue to drive down the cost per terabyte on the HDD business.

然後另一部分正如你所說，技術驅動的成本改進，不斷創新，提供更好的 TCO，更好的成本動態。我們將繼續降低 HDD 業務的每 TB 成本。

It's going down like high single digits a year or something like that. On NAND, of course, we continue to drive cost down in the 15% range for this year, we're still good with that number. So that's a big part of the storage industry, has continued to drive the cost down through technology innovation, and we feel very good about where we are in the R&D teams we have that can continue to do that.

每年的下降幅度大概在個位數左右。當然，就 NAND 而言，我們今年將繼續把成本降低 15% 左右，我們對這個數字仍然感到滿意。因此，這是儲存產業的重要組成部分，透過技術創新不斷降低成本，我們對我們擁有的研發團隊能夠繼續這樣做感到非常滿意。

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to David Goeckeler for closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議交還給 David Goeckeler 做最後發言。

All right. Thanks, everyone. You appreciate your time today. We look forward to talking to everybody throughout the quarter. We're very happy with where the business is and where we're driving. We think the portfolio is in a great shape, and things are going in the right direction. We look forward to talking to you about it more as we move throughout the quarter. Thanks for your time today.

好的。謝謝大家。感謝您今天抽出時間。我們期待整個季度與大家交談。我們對目前的業務狀況和發展方向感到非常滿意。我們認為投資組合狀況良好，事情正朝著正確的方向發展。我們期待在本季與您進一步討論此事。感謝您今天抽出時間。

Thank you, sir. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful evening.

謝謝您，先生。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家參加今天的演講。現在您可以斷開線路，享受美好的夜晚。