威騰電子 (WDC) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Western Digital's fourth quarter fiscal 2025 conference call.(Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

下午好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加西部數據2025財年第四季電話會議。 （操作員指示）提醒一下，本次通話正在錄音。

Now I will turn the call over to Mr. Ambrish Srivastava, Vice President, Investor Relations, you may begin.

現在我將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Ambrish Srivastava 先生，您可以開始。

Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. Joining me today are Irving Tan, Western Digital's Chief Executive Officer, and Khris Sennesael, Western Digital's Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝大家，下午好。今天與我一起出席的還有西部數據執行長 Irving Tan 和西部數據財務長 Khris Sennesael。

Before we begin, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements based on management's current assumptions and expectations, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include expectations for our product portfolio, our business plans, and performance, ongoing market trends, and our future financial results.

在我們開始之前，請注意，今天的討論將包含基於管理層當前假設和期望的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受各種風險和不確定性的影響。這些前瞻性陳述包括對我們的產品組合、業務計劃和業績、持續市場趨勢以及未來財務表現的預期。

We assume no obligation to update these statements. Please refer to our most recent annual 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因素的更多信息，請參閱我們最新的 10-K 表年度報告以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件。

In our prepared remarks, our comments will be related to non-GAAP results on a continuing operations basis unless stated otherwise. Reconciliation 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 at investor.wdc.com.

在我們準備好的評論中，除非另有說明，否則我們的評論將與持續經營基礎上的非 GAAP 結果相關。非 GAAP 與可比較 GAAP 財務指標之間的對帳資訊包含在新聞稿以及我們網站 investor.wdc.com 的投資者關係部分發布的其他資料中。

Lastly, I want to note that when we refer to we, us, are, or similar terms, we are referring only to Western Digital as a company, and not speaking on behalf of the industry.

最後，我想指出的是，當我們提到「我們」、「是」或類似術語時，我們僅指西部數據這家公司，而不是代表整個行業發言。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Irving for introductory remarks. Irving?

現在，我將把電話交給歐文作開場發言。歐文？

Thanks, Ambrish. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Let me first begin by welcoming and introducing Khris Sennesael, our new Chief Financial Officer. Kris brings extensive experience and a strong track record as a public company CFO. His leadership will be instrumental as we sharpen our focus on operational execution, accelerate our capital return program and continue to create value for our shareholders. We're excited to have Kris on board.

謝謝，Ambrish。大家下午好，感謝大家今天的參與。首先，請允許我歡迎並介紹我們的新任財務長 Khris Sennesael。Kris 擁有豐富的經驗和作為上市公司財務長的出色業績。他的領導將發揮重要作用，幫助我們更加重視營運執行，加快資本回報計劃，並繼續為股東創造價值。我們很高興 Kris 能加入我們。

Let me now walk you through our business update. AI is ushering in a new era of data growth by fundamentally transforming how data is created, collected, processed and stored. And more importantly, value.

現在讓我向您介紹我們的業務更新。人工智慧從根本上改變了資料的創建、收集、處理和儲存方式，開創了資料成長的新時代。更重要的是價值。

Looking beyond large language models, which have been a key driver of storage needs, the emergence of agentic AI at scale in multiple industries is creating an increasing need to store unstructured data. Agents customized with domain specific knowledge will create a significant amount of distinct use cases and generate data at an unprecedented pace.

除了大型語言模型（儲存需求的主要驅動因素）之外，代理人工智慧在多個產業的大規模出現也使得儲存非結構化資料的需求日益增加。使用特定領域知識自訂的代理程式將創建大量不同的用例並以前所未有的速度產生資料。

To cite a few examples. Applications leveraging a agentic AI range from business tools like enterprise chatbots and code development assistance, all the way to agents assisting in engineering, design, and development.

舉幾個例子。利用代理人工智慧的應用程式範圍從企業聊天機器人和程式碼開發援助等商業工具，一直到協助工程、設計和開發的代理。

Within our own engineering organization, we are already realizing tangible benefits of agentic AI to help accelerate our product development cycles. These trends are still in the early stages, but are expanding rapidly across industries globally. As data becomes more valuable and central to AI-driven innovation, the need to store and retain it at scale grows in parallel.

在我們自己的工程組織內，我們已經意識到代理人工智慧的實際好處，有助於加快我們的產品開發週期。這些趨勢仍處於早期階段，但正在全球各行業迅速擴張。隨著資料變得越來越有價值並且成為人工智慧驅動的創新的核心，大規模儲存和保留資料的需求也在同步增長。

And no storage technology matches the cost efficiency and reliability of HDDs, which remained the foundation of the world's theater infrastructure, delivering unmatched value for mass storage in an AI-driven future.

沒有任何儲存技術可以與 HDD 的成本效率和可靠性相媲美，而 HDD 仍然是全球影院基礎設施的基礎，在人工智慧驅動的未來為大容量儲存提供了無與倫比的價值。

Against this backdrop demand for our products continues to strengthen. We remain disciplined in managing capacity and are addressing long-term market demand through high quality, reliable, and larger capacity products. Shipments of our latest generation EPMR drives with capacity up to 26 terabytes CMR and 32 terabyte ultra SMR, more than double quarter-over-quarter, exceeding 1.7 million units in the June quarter. This marks one of the shortest qualification and REM cycles in our history.

在此背景下，我們產品的需求持續增強。我們在產能管理方面保持嚴格，並透過高品質、可靠和更大容量的產品來滿足長期市場需求。我們最新一代 EPMR 硬碟的出貨量（容量高達 26 TB CMR 和 32 TB 超 SMR）較上季成長了一倍多，6 月季度出貨量超過 170 萬台。這是我們歷史上最短的資格認證和 REM 週期之一。

The reliability, scalability, and TCO value of our EPMR and ultra SMR technologies that delivers the fastest time to value for our customers is core to our continued success in the data center market. We aim to extend EPMR's strong track record of high yields, reliability, and a scalable performance into our next generation of HAMR drives. The feedback from tests at two of our hyper-scale customers continues to be encouraging.

我們的 EPMR 和超 SMR 技術的可靠性、可擴展性和 TCO 價值能夠為我們的客戶提供最快的價值實現時間，這是我們在資料中心市場持續成功的核心。我們的目標是將 EPMR 的高產量、可靠性和可擴展性能的良好記錄擴展到我們的下一代 HAMR 驅動器。我們的兩位超大規模客戶進行的測試回饋仍然令人鼓舞。

I'm pleased to note that we are ahead of our internal milestones with steady progress in aerial density improvement and continue to focus on increasing long-term reliability and manufacturing yield of our HAMR products.

我很高興地註意到，我們在空中密度改進方面取得了穩步進展，領先於我們的內部里程碑，並繼續專注於提高我們的 HAMR 產品的長期可靠性和製造產量。

Next, we will transition from testing to qualification stage with these customers. Staying well on track for a ramp in the first half of calendar year 2027. Meanwhile, our next generation of ePMR drives will complete qualification in the first half of calendar year 2026. These drives will continue to deliver strong TCO along with the home reliability and predictability, paving the way for a smooth and economically sound transition to HAMR.

接下來，我們將與這些客戶一起從測試過渡到資格認證階段。2027 年上半年，產量可望維持良好成長動能。同時，我們的下一代 ePMR 驅動器將於 2026 年上半年完成認證。這些驅動器將繼續提供強大的 TCO 以及家庭可靠性和可預測性，為向 HAMR 的平穩且經濟的過渡鋪平道路。

In addition, the rapid rise of AI is also accelerating our platforms business. Our platform's technology enables us to deliver dense systems that extract the full performance and capacity of our drive. This business is building traction with infrastructure providers and is well positioned to support the growing number of native AI companies that don't have their own storage infrastructure teams.

此外，人工智慧的快速崛起也正在加速我們平台業務的發展。我們的平台技術使我們能夠提供密集的系統，以充分發揮驅動器的性能和容量。該業務正在與基礎設施供應商建立聯繫，並能夠為越來越多沒有自己的儲存基礎設施團隊的本土人工智慧公司提供支援。

Let me now turn to our quarterly results and capital allocation updates. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Western Digital delivered revenue of $2.6 billion, non-GAAP gross margin of 41.3% and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.66. Free cash flow for the quarter was $675 million. During the June quarter, we lowered our debt by $2.6 billion via a combination of using cash on hand and a debt for equity exchange of a portion of our state incentives. As a result, we have strengthened our balance sheet and achieved a net leverage target range of 1x to 1.5x.

現在讓我來談談我們的季度業績和資本配置更新。西部數據第四財季營收26億美元，非公認會計準則毛利率41.3%，非公認會計準則每股收益1.66美元。本季自由現金流為6.75億美元。在六月季度，我們透過使用庫存現金和債轉股（部分國家激勵措施）的方式減少了 26 億美元的債務。因此，我們加強了資產負債表，實現了 1 倍至 1.5 倍的淨槓桿目標範圍。

We communicated at our Investor Day in February in less than two quarters. Keeping with our commitment to returning cash to shareholders, we initiated a quarterly cash dividend program and the Board authorized a $2 billion share repurchase program. In our fiscal fourth quarter, we repurchased nearly $150 million worth of shares.

我們在二月的投資者日上進行了溝通，用時不到兩個季度。為了履行向股東返還現金的承諾，我們啟動了季度現金分紅計劃，董事會批准了 20 億美元的股票回購計劃。在第四財季，我們回購了價值近 1.5 億美元的股票。

Looking ahead, while the broader environment continues to be marked with uncertainty related to tariffs, we are seeing strong demand for our products driven by AI and related tailwinds in our business. Our visibility into our customers' plans continue to improve and we currently have firm POs or LTAs with all of our top five hyperscale customers covering our entire fiscal year 2026.

展望未來，儘管大環境繼續充滿與關稅相關的不確定性，但我們看到，在人工智慧和相關業務推動下，我們的產品需求強勁。我們對客戶計畫的了解不斷提高，目前我們與所有前五名超大規模客戶均已簽訂了涵蓋整個 2026 財年的確定採購訂單或長期協議。

This close collaboration with our customers enables us to plan more effectively and address their growing needs for storage. For the fiscal first quarter of 2026, we expect continued revenue growth driven by data center demand and improved profitability led by adoption of our high-capacity drives.

與客戶的密切合作使我們能夠更有效地規劃並滿足他們日益增長的儲存需求。對於 2026 財年第一季度，我們預計在資料中心需求的推動下營收將持續成長，而採用我們的高容量硬碟將提高獲利能力。

Let me now turn the call over to Kris, who will discuss our fiscal fourth quarter results and Q1 fiscal year '26 guidance in more detail.

現在，我將把電話轉給克里斯，他將更詳細地討論我們的第四財季業績和 26 財年第一季的指引。

Thank you, Irving, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm honored to be joining you today for my first earnings call as the Chief Financial Officer of Western Digital. Over the past several weeks, a healthy opportunity to perform a deep dive into our business and met with many of our valued employees across the company. I also had several meaningful engagements with customers, suppliers and partners and the investor community. It's been a tremendously energizing experience, providing great insight into our strategic, financial and operational priorities.

謝謝你，歐文，大家下午好。我很榮幸今天能夠作為西部數據財務長參加我的第一次財報電話會議。在過去的幾周里，我們獲得了一個深入了解業務的好機會，並與公司許多寶貴的員工會面。我還與客戶、供應商、合作夥伴和投資者社群進行了幾次有意義的交流。這是一次極其令人振奮的經歷，讓我們對策略、財務和營運重點有了深刻的了解。

It's clear to me that Western Digital is now operating as a strategically focused hard disk drive company. The company is leveraging its technology leadership position, operational excellence and deep customer engagements to provide innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of its customers. This provides a strong foundation for growth, profitability and cash flow generation that creates long-term shareholder value.

我很清楚，西部數據現在是一家以策略為重點的硬碟公司。該公司正在利用其技術領先地位、卓越的營運和深入的客戶參與來提供創新解決方案，以滿足客戶不斷變化的需求。這為創造長期股東價值的成長、獲利和現金流提供了堅實的基礎。

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Western Digital delivered very strong financial results. Revenue was $2.6 billion up 30% year-over-year, and earnings per share was $1.66. Revenue and EPS were above the high end of the guidance range. We delivered 190 exabytes to our customers, up 32% year-over-year driven by strong nearline shipments and the ramp of our 26 terabytes CMR and 32-terabyte UltraSMR drives.

2025財年第四季度，西部數據取得了非常強勁的財務表現。營收年增30%，達26億美元，每股收益達1.66美元。營收和每股盈餘均高於預期區間上限。我們向客戶交付了 190 EB，年成長 32%，這得益於強勁的近線出貨量以及 26 TB CMR 和 32 TB UltraSMR 硬碟的銷量成長。

Cloud represented 90% of total revenue at $2.3 billion, up 36% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for our higher capacity in nearline product portfolio. Client represented 5% of total revenue at $140 million, up 2% year-over-year. And consumer also represented 5% of revenue at $136 million, down 12% year-over-year.

雲端運算佔總營收的 90%，達到 23 億美元，年成長 36%，這得益於對我們近線產品組合中更高容量的強勁需求。客戶收入佔總營收的 5%，為 1.4 億美元，年增 2%。消費者業務也佔總營收的 5%，為 1.36 億美元，年減 12%。

Gross margin for the fiscal fourth quarter was 41.3%. Gross margin improved 610 basis points year-over-year on a continuing operating basis, and was above our guidance range. The improved gross margin performance reflects continued mix shift towards higher capacity drives and tight cost control in our manufacturing sites and throughout the supply chain.

第四財季毛利率為41.3%。以持續經營計算，毛利率年增 610 個基點，高於我們的預期範圍。毛利率的提高反映了我們製造基地和整個供應鏈的產品組合繼續向更高容量的驅動器轉變，以及嚴格的成本控制。

Operating expenses were $345 million, slightly above guidance due to higher variable compensation on stronger-than-expected results. Operating income was $732 million, translating into an operating margin of 28.1%. Interest and other expenses were $52 million, a substantial reduction from the prior quarter due to the repayment of $2.6 billion of debt during the quarter. Taking into account an effective tax rate of 9.3% and a diluted share count of 362 million shares. EPS was $1.66, up 22% sequentially.

營運費用為 3.45 億美元，略高於預期，原因是業績優於預期導致浮動薪酬增加。營業收入為 7.32 億美元，營業利益率為 28.1%。利息和其他支出為 5,200 萬美元，較上一季大幅減少，原因是本季償還了 26 億美元的債務。考慮到有效稅率為 9.3% 且稀釋股數為 3.62 億股。每股收益為 1.66 美元，環比增長 22%。

Turning to the balance sheet. At the end of our fiscal fourth quarter, cash and cash equivalents were $2.1 billion, and the total liquidity was $3.4 billion, including the undrawn revolver capacity. During the quarter, we exchanged approximately 21 million shares of Sandisk for debt. As a result, our Term Loan A reduced by $800 million, and we still own 7.5 million shares of Sandisk.

轉向資產負債表。在我們第四財季末，現金和現金等價物為 21 億美元，總流動資金為 34 億美元，包括未提取的循環信貸額度。在本季度，我們用大約 2,100 萬股 Sandisk 股票換取了債務。結果，我們的定期貸款 A 減少了 8 億美元，而我們仍然擁有 750 萬股 Sandisk 股票。

In addition, we redeemed $1.8 billion of the senior unsecured notes, resulting in gross debt outstanding of $4.7 billion at the end of fiscal 2025. We strengthened our balance sheet and achieved our target net leverage ratio of 1 times to 1.5 times as outlined at our Investor Day.

此外，我們也贖回了 18 億美元的優先無擔保票據，導致 2025 財年末的未償債務總額達到 47 億美元。我們加強了資產負債表，並實現了投資者日所概述的 1 倍至 1.5 倍的目標淨槓桿率。

Operating cash flow for the fiscal fourth quarter was $746 million, and capital expenditures were $71 million, resulting in strong free cash flow generation of $675 million for the quarter. Backed by strong cash flow generation, a robust balance sheet and confidence in the fundamentals of our business, the Board authorized up to $2 billion of share repurchases.

第四財季的營運現金流為 7.46 億美元，資本支出為 7,100 萬美元，導致本季產生了 6.75 億美元的強勁自由現金流。在強勁的現金流、穩健的資產負債表和對業務基本面的信心的支持下，董事會批准了高達 20 億美元的股票回購。

During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 2.8 million shares for a total of $149 million. In addition, as announced during the last earnings call, the Board initiated a cash dividend of $0.10 per share resulting in $36 million of dividend payments during the quarter. The Board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share of the company's common stock payable on September 18, 2025, to shareholders of record as of September 4, 2025.

本季度，我們回購了約 280 萬股，總計 1.49 億美元。此外，正如上次收益電話會議上宣布的那樣，董事會啟動了每股 0.10 美元的現金股息，導致本季股息支付總額達到 3,600 萬美元。董事會也宣布，公司普通股季度現金股利為每股 0.10 美元，將於 2025 年 9 月 18 日支付給截至 2025 年 9 月 4 日登記在冊的股東。

I will now turn to the outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. This guidance includes our current estimate of all anticipated or known tariff-related impacts on our business in this period. We anticipate revenue to be $2.7 billion, plus, minus $100 million. At the midpoint, this reflects a growth of approximately 22% year-over-year.

現在我將談談 2026 財年第一季的展望。該指引包括我們目前對這段期間內所有預期或已知的關稅相關影響的估計。我們預計營收為 27 億美元，正負 1 億美元。從中間值來看，這反映出年增約 22%。

Gross margin is expected to be between 41% and 42%. We expect operating expenses to increase on a sequential basis to a range of $370 million to $380 million, including an additional week of expenses as Q1 will be a 14-week quarter. Interest and other expenses are anticipated to be approximately $50 million. The tax rate is expected to be between 16% and 19%. As a result, we expect EPS to be $1.54 plus, minus $0.15 based on a non-GAAP diluted share count of approximately 363 million shares.

預計毛利率在41%至42%之間。我們預計營運費用將環比增加至 3.7 億美元至 3.8 億美元，其中包括額外一周的費用，因為第一季將是一個 14 週的季度。預計利息和其他費用約為 5000 萬美元。預計稅率在16%至19%之間。因此，我們預計每股收益為 1.54 美元，基於非 GAAP 稀釋股數約 3.63 億股，加減 0.15 美元。

In closing, Western Digital is well positioned to succeed in the AI-driven data economy. We remain committed to meeting our customers' growing storage needs while using our cash flow generation and strong balance sheet to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

最後，西部數據在人工智慧驅動的數據經濟中佔據有利地位。我們將繼續致力於滿足客戶日益增長的儲存需求，同時利用我們的現金流量和強勁的資產負債表為股東創造長期價值。

With that, I will now turn the call back to Irving.

說完這些，我現在將電話轉回給歐文。

Thank you, Kris. Western Digital's strong results and positive outlook this quarter reflects the ongoing successful execution of our strategy and the continued trust our customers place in the performance, reliability and TCO advantages of our products. This combination of customer trust, strategic focus and disciplined execution is driving our strong financial results.

謝謝你，克里斯。西部數據本季的強勁業績和積極前景反映了我們策略的持續成功執行以及客戶對我們產品的性能、可靠性和 TCO 優勢的持續信任。客戶信任、策略重點和嚴格執行的結合推動了我們強勁的財務表現。

With that, let's now begin with the Q&A. Over to you, Ambrish

現在讓我們開始問答環節。交給你了，安布里什

Thanks, Irving. Operator, you can now open the line to questions, please. (Operator Instructions) . Operator?

謝謝，歐文。接線員，您現在可以接聽電話詢問了。（操作員說明） 。操作員？

We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)

我們現在開始問答環節。（操作員指示）

Erik Woodring, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的艾瑞克‧伍德林。

Hey guys, thank you. Thank you very much for taking my questions and congrats on the results tonight. Kris, I wanted to kind of better understand the gross margin guidance for the September quarter. You're calling for, I believe, 20 basis points of sequential gross margin expansion at the midpoint. Can you maybe just help us unpack maybe why we're seeing that sequential gross margin expansion slow into the September quarter, if there are any one-timers or headwinds that are unusual in the quarter to call out?

嘿夥計們，謝謝你們。非常感謝您回答我的問題，並祝賀今晚的成果。克里斯，我想更了解九月季度的毛利率指引。我相信，您要求中間點的毛利率連續擴大 20 個基點。您能否幫助我們解釋為什麼我們看到 9 月季度的連續毛利率成長放緩，以及本季是否存在任何不尋常的一次性事件或不利因素？

And I'll just ask the follow-up because it's related, which is, beyond September, I realize you have a 38% gross margin in your three-year financial model. As we progress through this up cycle though, how should we be thinking about the incremental margins in this business and maybe help us stream the dream of what's possible during this -- what's possible during this up cycle? Thanks so much.

我只想問一個後續問題，因為它與此相關，也就是說，9 月之後，我意識到你們三年財務模型中的毛利率為 38%。然而，當我們經歷這個上升週期時，我們應該如何考慮這個行業的增量利潤，並可能幫助我們實現在這個上升週期中可能發生的夢想——在這個上升週期中可能發生什麼？非常感謝。

Yes. Thanks, Erik, for the question. And so first of all, I'm very pleased with the progress that we are making with our gross margin. As you probably recall, at the February Investor Day, we had -- we announced a business model with a 38% gross margin. And so last quarter, even before I joined the company, I was very pleased to see that the company, for the first time had gross margins with a full handle in the 40% range in last quarter in Q4 of fiscal '25. I'm very pleased with the fact that we delivered 41.3% gross margin. So really good progress for many quarters in a row.

是的。謝謝埃里克提出這個問題。首先，我對我們的毛利率的提高感到非常滿意。您可能還記得，在二月的投資者日上，我們宣布了一種毛利率為 38% 的商業模式。因此，上個季度，甚至在我加入公司之前，我就很高興地看到，該公司在 2025 財年第四季的毛利率首次達到了 40% 左右。我對我們的毛利率達到 41.3% 感到非常高興。因此連續多個季度都取得了良好的進展。

As you know, in gross margins, there's multiple elements that go into it. There is pricing, the risk mix, risk cost. And in each of those fronts, I think the company is executing really well. Pricing is a very stable environment. The mix is shifting in the right direction to higher capacity drives that is accretive to gross margins and the operational team is executing really well, driving down cost reductions in the factories as well throughout the supply chain.

如您所知，毛利率涉及多種因素。有定價、風險組合、風險成本。我認為，在每一個方面，公司的表現都非常好。定價是一個非常穩定的環境。產品組合正在朝著正確的方向轉變，轉向更高容量的驅動器，從而提高毛利率，並且營運團隊的執行情況非常好，從而降低了工廠以及整個供應鏈的成本。

And so I do believe there is further gross margin progression. We guided now Q1 of fiscal '26 to 41% to 42%. I'm confident that the team will execute well and continue to focus on further gross margin improvements over time. (multiple speakers)

因此我確實相信毛利率會進一步提高。我們現在預計 26 財年第一季的成長率為 41% 至 42%。我相信團隊會表現良好，並繼續專注於進一步提高毛利率。（多位發言者）

Next caller, please, operator.

接線生，有請下一位來電。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Aaron Rakers, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的 Aaron Rakers。

Yeah, thanks for taking the question. I do have two and I'll wait to ask a follow-up. I guess the first question, Kris, congrats on the results as well. But you've taken the debt down, you're well within your targeted range of 1 to 1.5 on a leverage ratio basis, strong free cash flow generation, you've got $2.1 billion of cash on the balance sheet. I'm curious as you start to think about share repurchase activity going forward.

是的，感謝您提出這個問題。我確實有兩個，我會等待詢問後續情況。我想第一個問題是，克里斯，也祝賀你取得的成績。但你已經減少了債務，你的槓桿率完全在 1 到 1.5 的目標範圍內，擁有強勁的自由現金流，你的資產負債表上有 21 億美元的現金。我很好奇您開始考慮未來的股票回購活動。

How should we as investors think about that? Or how do you think about excess cash generation or the right level of cash on the balance sheet that you'll operate the business at or rather the capacity for even stepping further on share repurchase going forward?

身為投資者我們該如何看待這個問題？或者您如何看待超額現金產生或資產負債表上適當的現金水平，以便您可以經營業務，或者更確切地說，未來進一步回購股票的能力？

Aaron, that's a great question. And here again, I'm really pleased with what I've seen in the company as well in terms of capital, capital structure and capital allocation. And just to summarize it as well, there is very strong free cash flow.

亞倫，這個問題問得很好。再次，我對公司在資本、資本結構和資本配置方面的表現感到非常滿意。總而言之，自由現金流非常強勁。

Just last quarter, the first quarter as the stand-alone hard disk drive company, we generated $675 million of free cash flow which was a 26% free cash flow margin. Now not each and every quarter will be as strong as last quarter, but the business model is really a strong free cash flow business model.

就在上個季度，作為獨立硬碟的第一季度，我們產生了 6.75 億美元的自由現金流，自由現金流利潤率為 26%。現在並不是每個季度都會像上個季度一樣強勁，但這種商業模式確實是一種強大的自由現金流商業模式。

In addition to that, the company has done a great job at strengthening the balance sheet at the time of the separation as well as last quarter where we retired $2.6 billion of debt now getting to a net debt of $2.6 billion, which is a lot about onetime LTM EBITDA. So really good job there. And so there's no hesitation from the Board, to the management team to continue to return cash back to the shareholders through a combination of our dividend program and the share repurchase program.

除此之外，公司在分離時以及上個季度在加強資產負債表方面做得非常出色，我們償還了 26 億美元的債務，現在淨債務為 26 億美元，這與一次性 LTM EBITDA 相當多。所以你們做得非常好。因此，董事會和管理團隊毫不猶豫地透過股利計畫和股票回購計畫相結合的方式繼續向股東返還現金。

The dividend program, we started with $0.10 per quarter. I think there is room to grow that dividend over time. We're going to be very thoughtful about that. but there was also no hesitation to switch on the buyback the day it got approved. You saw we did $150 million. I think over time, as the cash flow generation continues to grow, we can do more, and there will be no hesitation to execute the share repurchase program.

我們的股息計劃從每季 0.10 美元開始。我認為隨著時間的推移，股息還有成長空間。我們會非常認真地考慮這一點，但我們在獲得批准的當天就毫不猶豫地啟動了回購。您看到我們賺了 1.5 億美元。我認為隨著時間的推移，隨著現金流的不斷增長，我們可以做更多的事情，並且毫不猶豫地執行股票回購計劃。

Do you have a follow-up, Erik? Aaron, sorry

艾瑞克，你還有後續消息嗎？亞倫，對不起

Yes, I do, Ambrish. Thank you. One of the metrics that you guys have historically given and helps kind of bridge the hard disk drive versus the non-hard disk drive business was the ASP. I didn't see that in tonight's release. So I'm curious if that's something that you could talk to? Or I guess, maybe put another way, how do we think about the non-HDD revenue in this most recent quarter?

是的，我知道，安布里什。謝謝。你們歷來給出的、有助於連接硬碟和非硬碟業務的指標之一是 ASP。我在今晚的發布會上沒有看到這一點。所以我很好奇您是否可以談論這個主題？或者我想，也許換句話說，我們如何看待最近這個季度的非 HDD 收入？

Yeah. Aaron, thanks for the question. This is, Irving. Obviously, ASP per terabyte is obviously a function of mix by and large. But I would say for last quarter, ASP per terabyte was down low single digits.

是的。亞倫，謝謝你的提問。這是歐文。顯然，每 TB 的 ASP 總體上顯然是混合函數。但我想說，上個季度每 TB 的平均售價下降了個位數。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Wamsi Mohan, Bank of America.

美國銀行的 Wamsi Mohan。

Yeah, thank you so much and congrats on your solid results as well. Could you maybe help us think a little bit longer term here? When you look at sort of the revenue contribution, 90% coming from cloud, does it really mean that the seasonality in the business is going to be materially different? And what I'm particularly wondering is, should we be thinking that you're just going to see sequential growth as demand is kind of strong, still all indications of cloud CapEx remained very strong that you could grow through even typically a seasonal weaker quarter like the March quarter? And I have a follow-up.

是的，非常感謝，也恭喜你取得了堅實的成績。您能否幫助我們進行更長遠的思考？當您查看收入貢獻時，90％來自雲端運算，這是否真的意味著業務的季節性將會發生重大差異？我特別想知道的是，我們是否應該認為您只會看到連續成長，因為需求很強勁，但所有跡像都表明雲端運算資本支出仍然非常強勁，即使在像三月季度這樣的季節性疲軟季度中，您也可以實現成長？我還有一個後續問題。

Yeah. Thanks, Wamsi, for the question. Look, I think you sort of got it well in the sense that we are structurally quite a different business today than we were in the past. As you highlighted, 90% of our business is in the data center. A large portion of that business is driven by a few set of key hyperscale customers that we have.

是的。謝謝 Wamsi 提出這個問題。瞧，我認為您在某種程度上理解得很好，因為從結構上來說，我們今天的業務與過去有很大不同。正如您所強調的，我們 90% 的業務都在資料中心。這項業務的很大一部分是由我們的幾組關鍵超大規模客戶推動的。

They have multiyear CapEx programs to really invest in their data storage assets, both to support the ongoing growth in the cloud and to also support the additional tailwind that they see coming from the AI revolution as well.

他們有多年的資本支出計劃來真正投資於他們的資料儲存資產，既支持雲端運算的持續成長，也支持他們認為來自人工智慧革命的額外順風。

So that, plus the fact that we also now have moved to a 52-week lead time program with them. And as we've highlighted, we have POs all LTAs for all five of our top customers spending the entire fiscal year '26 and for two out of five of them all the way to the middle of fiscal year '27. We don't think that the seasonality of the past applies anymore. It's really driven by the cloud CapEx spend of the big hyperscalers in terms of their new data center deployments, their refresh cycles as well.

因此，再加上我們現在也已經與他們一起轉向了 52 週的交付週期計劃。正如我們所強調的，我們為所有五大客戶簽訂了採購訂單和長期協議，這些訂單將持續整個 26 財年，其中兩個客戶的訂單將持續到 27 財年中期。我們認為過去的季節性不再適用。這實際上是由大型超大規模企業在新資料中心部署和更新週期方面的雲端運算資本支出所驅動的。

Having said that, we do recognize that we are in a cyclical business. At some point, those cycles, there will be periods of digestion, as we highlighted in our Q3 results as well, but we pretty much have a really good handle on how the business is slowing over a 12, 18 month time frame.

話雖如此，我們確實認識到我們處於一個週期性的行業。在某些時候，這些週期將會有消化期，正如我們在第三季業績中所強調的那樣，但我們基本上可以很好地掌握業務在 12 至 18 個月的時間範圍內如何放緩。

But if I summarize it, you got it pretty right. The traditional seasonality of the past doesn't really apply to this business a lot more. It's really driven by the programs that our hyperscale customers have in terms of new data centers coming online in their refresh cycles.

但如果我總結一下，你的回答非常正確。過去的傳統季節性實際上不再適用於這個行業。這實際上是由我們的超大規模客戶在其更新周期中上線的新資料中心計劃所推動的。

Okay. That's super helpful, Irving. And as my follow-up, Kris, I just wanted to go back to the incremental margin question that Erik cast around, and you answered with the moving pieces being price, mix and cost. So if we think about the sequential improvement in this June quarter of 120 bps, what would you say was the biggest driver between those three elements. And as we look forward, where do you see the most opportunity?

好的。這非常有幫助，歐文。作為我的後續問題，克里斯，我只是想回到埃里克提出的增量利潤問題，而你的回答是，變動因素包括價格、組合和成本。因此，如果我們考慮今年 6 月季度 120 個基點的連續改善，您認為這三個因素中最大的驅動力是什麼。展望未來，您認為最大的機會在哪裡？

I would think that the pricing is what it's going to be. It's pretty stable. It's kind of, not maybe a huge incremental driver. So should we think that mix is really the biggest kind of contributor on a go-forward basis as you mix up these UltraSMR drives? Or should I be thinking about it differently? Thank you so much.

我認為定價就是這樣。它非常穩定。它可能不是一個巨大的增量驅動因素。那麼，當您混合使用這些 UltraSMR 硬碟時，我們是否應該認為混合確實是未來最大的貢獻者？或者我應該以不同的方式思考這個問題？太感謝了。

No. You have it right. Mix is the most important item that we, as a company focus on. That's why we continue to invest in our technology and product road maps and really focusing on higher capacity drives. That is something that our customers are asking us for.

不。你說得對。混合是我們作為一家公司所關注的最重要的事項。這就是為什麼我們繼續投資我們的技術和產品路線圖並真正專注於更高容量的驅動器。這是我們的客戶向我們提出的要求。

That's something we are working and collaborating with our customers on, and it's a win-win situation. For us, higher capacity drives typically translates into higher gross margin. And the company is executing really well on that.

這是我們正在與客戶共同努力和合作的事情，這是一個雙贏的局面。對我們來說，更高容量的驅動器通常意味著更高的毛利率。公司在這方面的執行情況非常好。

Maybe Wamsi, this is Irving. I'll just add on to what Kris said. So I echo exactly what I said it's really driven very much by mix. And you would have seen that our latest generation of ePMR drives a 26-terabyte CMR and 32-terabyte UltraSMR. The number of units that we shipped doubled in the second quarter, up from just over 800,000 units in last quarter to over 1.7 million units this quarter. That's a clear recognition of our customers seeing the TCO value that it delivers the strong reliability that it delivers to -- and quality that they are comfortable and used to from our ePMR drives.

也許是 Wamsi，這是 Irving。我只是想補充一下克里斯所說的話。所以我完全同意我的說法，這確實很大程度上是由混合驅動的。您可能已經看到，我們最新一代的 ePMR 可驅動 26 TB 的 CMR 和 32 TB 的 UltraSMR。我們第二季的出貨量翻了一番，從上一季的 80 萬多台增加到本季的 170 萬多台。這清楚地表明我們的客戶看到了它所提供的 TCO 價值、它所提供的強大可靠性——以及他們對我們的 ePMR 驅動器感到滿意和習慣的品質。

And as I've highlighted in the past as well, these drives are not only at the leading edge of capacity points, where the ability of our operations teams deliver very high yields is also adding to the profitability of that business. And we look forward to introducing our next-generation ePMR drives in the not-too-distant future. So I think there will be continued room to continue to deliver value, innovation, TCO benefit that we can benefit from and drive further margin expansion.

正如我過去所強調的那樣，這些驅動力不僅處於產能點的前沿，我們的營運團隊提供非常高收益的能力也增加了該業務的獲利能力。我們期待在不久的將來推出下一代 ePMR 驅動器。因此，我認為我們仍有繼續提供價值、創新和 TCO 效益的空間，可以從中受益並進一步擴大利潤率。

Thank you, Wamsi.

謝謝你，Wamsi。

Karl Ackerman, BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的卡爾‧阿克曼。

Yes, thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. So one of the main ways you have driven higher margins is from the adoption of UltraSMR. And I was hoping if you could discuss the adoption curve and willingness of hyperscalers to grow their hard drive base exclusively on UltraSMR. I guess, is there a certain workload -- are there certain workloads where UltraSMR is this advantage that will prevent you from attaining perhaps 100% of your fleet on UltraSMR? Thank you.

是的，謝謝。謝謝各位。因此，提高利潤率的主要方法之一是採用 UltraSMR。我希望您能討論一下超大規模企業在 UltraSMR 上專門擴展其硬碟基礎的採用曲線和意願。我想，是否存在一定的工作負載——是否存在一定的工作負載，UltraSMR 的優勢在於它會阻止您在 UltraSMR 上實現 100% 的機隊？謝謝。

Hey, Karl, thanks for the question. Well, we have, in the past, had two key customers on UltraSMR. We've just completed the qualification of a third hyperscale customer out of our top five on UltraSMR and just starting to ramp up UltraSMR in the second half of the calendar year. We now have a fourth customer in the process of qualifying UltraSMR as well. And again, to reiterate, it's very important to note that UltraSMR is a technology that will be extensible into HAMR as well.

嘿，卡爾，謝謝你的提問。嗯，過去我們在 UltraSMR 上有兩個關鍵客戶。我們剛完成了 UltraSMR 五大超大規模客戶中的第三位超大規模客戶的資格認證，並即將在今年下半年開始加大 UltraSMR 的投入。現在，我們還有第四個客戶正在對 UltraSMR 進行認證。再次重申，非常重要的一點是，UltraSMR 是一項可擴展到 HAMR 的技術。

As we transition into our HAMR products in the not-too-distant future, we will be able to deliver that on the UltraSMR platforms as well to enable our customers to take advantage of the incremental capacity points within that.

在不久的將來，隨著我們轉向 HAMR 產品，我們將能夠在 UltraSMR 平台上實現這一功能，以使我們的客戶能夠利用其中的增量容量點。

Specifically your question around workloads. It really depends on the application. So even in the existing customer environments that do use UltraSMR today, there are some specific legacy workloads that they buy lower capacity drives, 18, 20 terabyte drives. But what we are seeing is that for any new workloads that they are bringing to the market, it's all on the highest capacity points that they can adopt, which is typically on UltraSMR.

具體來說，您的問題與工作量有關。這確實取決於應用程式。因此，即使在目前使用 UltraSMR 的現有客戶環境中，也會有一些特定的遺留工作負載，他們會購買容量較低的驅動器，例如 18、20 TB 的驅動器。但我們看到，對於他們推向市場的任何新工作負載，都是基於他們可以採用的最高容量點，通常是 UltraSMR。

Do you have a follow-up, Karl?

卡爾，你還有後續問題嗎？

I do, if I may. So you and your peer have seen the strongest visibility in terms of order rates and really the longest time ever. That clearly speaks to the demand requests from hyperscale customers. Clearly, they would love to have you add capacity. Given the longer lead times and the sophistication of these customers, how do you balance the visibility with those customers as well as the demand request for those customers as you plan your capacity playing and they could plan their hubs buildouts for the next two years? Thank you.

如果可以的話，我願意。因此，您和您的同事在訂單率方面看到了最強的可見性，並且確實是有史以來最長的可見性。這清楚地顯示了超大規模客戶的需求。顯然，他們很樂意看到你增加容量。考慮到更長的交貨時間和這些客戶的成熟度，在您規劃產能發揮時，如何平衡這些客戶的可見性以及這些客戶的需求請求，他們可以在未來兩年內規劃他們的樞紐建設？謝謝。

Yes. Thanks. It's a great question. So on the demand signal, I think the first step was really to educate our customers on the long lead times as the products become much more sophisticated as we move to higher capacity drives. We have highlighted and they're aware that really the long lead times are driven by the hit wafers that we have to produce that take roughly nine months to produce a head wafer and then a three months to convert them into headstack.

是的。謝謝。這是一個很好的問題。因此，就需求訊號而言，我認為第一步實際上是讓我們的客戶了解較長的交貨時間，因為隨著我們轉向更高容量的驅動器，產品變得更加複雜。我們已經強調過，他們也知道，較長的交付週期實際上是由我們必須生產的命中晶圓所驅動的，大約需要九個月的時間來生產頭部晶圓，然後需要三個月的時間將其轉換成頭部堆疊。

So one year lead time on that component alone, and that's been instrumental in driving us to that 12-month LTE visibility. We are now also having conversations with them, as I've highlighted with two of them, we now have 18 months visibility.

因此，僅在該組件上就需要一年的準備時間，這對我們實現 12 個月的 LTE 可見性起到了重要作用。我們現在也正在與他們進行對話，正如我向其中兩位強調的那樣，我們現在有 18 個月的預見性。

So that really is a key in terms of that partnership to get greater visibility to support their growth requirements. That's giving us a lot of insight into how we need to accelerate our aerial density improvements in our products. That also is a function of why you saw the very rapid take-up of our latest generation of ePMR drives.

因此，就合作而言，這確實是獲得更大知名度以支持其成長需求的關鍵。這讓我們對如何加速我們產品的空中密度改進有了深入的了解。這也是為什麼您會看到我們最新一代的 ePMR 驅動器得到如此迅速的普及。

I think we will see something very similar in our next generation of ePMR drives out very soon as well. But again, the focus is on really delivering increased aerial density to our customers, through technologies like UltraSMR, (inaudible). And if there's any investment that we do need to make into capacity, it's really on the head and media side of our business to support air density improvement.

我認為我們很快就會在下一代 ePMR 驅動器中看到非常類似的東西。但再次強調，重點是透過 UltraSMR 等技術真正為我們的客戶提供更高的空中密度，（聽不清楚）。如果我們確實需要對產能進行任何投資，那麼這實際上就是我們業務的頭腦和媒體方面，以支持空氣密度的改善。

Thank you, Karl.

謝謝你，卡爾。

Asiya Merchant, Citigroup.

花旗集團的 Asiya Merchant。

Great, thank you thanks for taking my question. I think in the last call, there was some discussion on tariffs and some potential for enterprise slowdown. Just curious if you have anything to suggest there, any updates there? And how do we make sure -- how do we -- how are you making sure that some of this demand is not just related to tariff pull forward? Thank you.

太好了，謝謝你回答我的問題。我認為在上次電話會議中，我們討論了關稅以及企業放緩的可能性。只是好奇您有沒有什麼建議，有什麼更新嗎？我們如何確保——我們如何——如何確保這些需求不僅僅與關稅上調有關？謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks, Asiya, for the question. I guess there are two parts to the question. First, on the enterprise demand. We called it out as a risk with the potential concern that the impact of tariffs might have. We haven't seen that materialize. So obviously, the tariffs, some of the vesicle tariffs got pushed out as well. So we haven't seen that yet.

是的。謝謝 Asiya 提出這個問題。我想這個問題可以分成兩個部分。第一，關於企業需求。我們將其視為一種風險，擔心關稅可能會產生影響。我們還沒有看到這一情況實現。因此顯然，關稅，一些囊泡關稅也被取消了。所以我們還沒有看到這一點。

But again, as I highlighted, some of the potential softness in enterprise, which didn't materialize, we would pick up in the cloud anyway because enterprises will move from CapEx to consumption-based models. So we sort of netted off regardless, but we haven't seen any of that risk materialize.

但正如我再次強調的那樣，企業中一些潛在的疲軟現象並未實現，無論如何我們都會在雲端運算中發現它們，因為企業將從資本支出轉向基於消費的模式。因此，我們無論如何都會進行抵消，但我們還沒有看到任何風險成為現實。

To your second question about tariffs, it's a very fluid and dynamic situation. But we don't see any double ordering based on the analysis that we've done. We look at in quarter linearity trends and they're very similar to what we've seen historically. We compare that against the 12-month lead times that our customers have given us either through firm POs or to LTAs and they're pretty much matching those same projections to the [T].

關於關稅的第二個問題，這是一個非常不穩定且動態的情況。但根據我們所做的分析，我們沒有發現任何雙重排序。我們觀察季度線性趨勢，它們與我們歷史上看到的非常相似。我們將其與客戶透過確定採購訂單或長期協議給予我們的 12 個月交貨期進行比較，結果顯示他們幾乎將這些預測與[T].

And last but not least, we're in a very, very tight supply environment. So our ability to deliver upside within a quarter is also very limited. For those reasons and the fact that we do monitor our customer inventory levels the best we can. We don't see any pull forwards as a result of tariffs as of now.

最後但同樣重要的一點是，我們正處於非常非常緊張的供應環境中。因此，我們在一個季度內實現成長的能力也非常有限。由於這些原因以及我們盡力監控客戶庫存水準的事實。到目前為止，我們還沒有看到關稅帶來任何推動作用。

Thank you for your two questions, Asiya. We go to the next caller please.

謝謝你的兩個問題，Asiya。請接聽下一位來電。

Tom O'Malley, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的湯姆·奧馬利。

Hi guys, thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to make sure I heard this correctly. You guys said ASPs in the June quarter were down low single digits. Is that correct?

大家好，感謝你們回答我的問題。我只是想確保我聽得正確。你們說六月季度的平均售價下降了個位數。對嗎？

So Tom, so ASPs per drive continue to go up as we move to higher capacity drives, but ASP per terabyte was slightly down, but mostly driven by mix because the price environment is very stable.

湯姆，隨著我們轉向更高容量的驅動器，每個驅動器的平均銷售價格繼續上漲，但每 TB 的平均銷售價格略有下降，但主要是受混合因素驅動，因為價格環境非常穩定。

Got it. That makes sense. And then, I guess, as a follow-up, if you look at the market today. I think that your competitor had talked about an exabyte target where after that certain target, I think they said around 160 exabytes, they would need to see growth really exclusively from technology transitions.

知道了。這很有道理。然後，我想，作為後續，如果你看看今天的市場。我認為您的競爭對手已經談到了艾字節目標，在達到該特定目標之後，我認為他們說的是大約 160 艾字節，他們需要看到真正完全來自技術轉型的成長。

I asked you last quarter, but in terms of where you guys stand, is there any mark that you would call out as that kind of waterfall? Is there a spot that you would say from this point forward, we only need technology transitions to move forward just in your ability to capacity kind of constrain the market? Anything you have there?

我上個季度問過你，但就你們所處的位置而言，有沒有什麼標記可以稱為那種瀑布？從現在開始，您是否會說，我們只需要技術轉型就可以向前發展，而您的能力可以限制市場容量？你那裡有什麼東西嗎？

Yeah. Tom, I would say that if you look at the last quarter, we delivered 190 exabytes, and that's really a result of the latest generation of ePMR drives that we've delivered. So our ability to not only produce higher capacity drives, vulnerability to produce them at scale with high yields, I think, has really differentiated us. And so we look -- we are laser-focused on continuing to ensure we have high yields of our components, our drive and continuing to deliver products to our customers at scale. So as a result of that, we don't have to make any incremental investments into capacity.

是的。湯姆，我想說，如果你看一下上個季度，我們交付了 190 EB，這實際上是我們交付的最新一代 ePMR 驅動器的結果。因此，我認為，我們不僅能夠生產更高容量的驅動器，而且能夠大規模、高產量地生產它們，這確實使我們與眾不同。因此，我們全心全意地致力於繼續確保我們的零件擁有高產量，我們的動力以及繼續大規模地向客戶交付產品。因此，我們不需要對產能進行任何增量投資。

Thank you. Next caller, please operator.

謝謝。請下一位來電者，接線生。

Amit Daryanani, Evercore.

阿米特·達亞納尼 (Amit Daryanani)，Evercore。

Thanks, I guess maybe to start with, I was hoping you folks would spend a bit of time on talking about how does the extra week flow through your P&L and on the revenue and OpEx side? And what's the right OpEx run rate to think about beyond that extra week?

謝謝，我想也許首先，我希望你們能花一點時間討論一下額外的一周如何影響你們的損益表以及收入和運營支出方面？除了額外一週的時間之外，還需要考慮哪些正確的營運支出運作率呢？

Yeah. On the revenue side, our customers, they think in quarterly buckets in line with their long-term forecasts and LTAs, and POs that they have placed. So we don't really see much on the revenue side. There might be a little bit of a benefit in the consumer retail side of the business. But as you know, that's relatively small for Western Digital.

是的。在收入方面，我們的客戶根據他們的長期預測、長期協議以及他們所下的採購訂單來考慮季度收入。因此，我們在收入方面確實看不到太多變化。這可能會為消費者零售業務帶來一點好處。但如你所知，這對於西部數據來說相對較小。

On the OpEx side, however, it is an extra week. It's, I would say, it's on or about $15 million of incremental spend that happens in Q1 of fiscal '26. Obviously, looking ahead to Q2, Q3, Q4, that comes out of it as those quarters are normal 13-week quarters.

然而，從營運支出方面來看，這需要額外一週的時間。我想說的是，這是 26 財年第一季約 1500 萬美元的增量支出。顯然，展望第二季度、第三季度和第四季度，這是因為這些季度是正常的 13 週季度。

Do you have a follow-up, Amit?

您還有後續消息嗎，阿米特？

I do. Irving, you initially having spoken a good bit about agentic AI deployment and how that could drive demand for HDDs. If I think about your Analyst Day, you talked about like 20% exabyte growth, mid- to high single-digit revenue growth for the company. As you start to see AI getting deployed, I'm wondering how do you think those numbers can move higher? And if the way to quantify what kind of tailwind it will provide for your business longer term? Thank you.

我願意。歐文，您最初談了很多關於代理 AI 部署以及它如何推動對 HDD 的需求。如果我回想一下您的分析師日，您談到了 20% 的艾字節成長，公司收入將實現中高個位數成長。當您開始看到人工智慧部署時，我想知道您認為這些數字如何更高？以及如何量化它將為您的業務長期帶來什麼樣的順風？謝謝。

Yeah. Thanks, Amit, for the question. Yes, if you recall what we presented at Investor Day was a base model that 15 exabyte growth. That was primarily driven by the sort of secular growth in the cloud, and we highlighted the potential upside of that 15 exabyte CAGR growth to 23% as a result of an AI uplift. We are starting to see some of that uplift materialize.

是的。謝謝阿米特提出的問題。是的，如果您還記得的話，我們在投資者日展示的是一個 15 EB 成長的基本模型。這主要是由雲端運算的長期成長所推動的，我們強調了由於人工智慧的提升，15EB 的複合年增長率可能上升至 23%。我們開始看到部分提升正在實現。

So it's still early days, but we think that the exabyte growth is more between the 15% to 23% range rather than the base number that we've highlighted. In that model that we presented at Investor Day, we also had a 7% ASP decline. As Kris highlighted, we're seeing a much lower ASP decline in the low single digits as well.

所以現在還為時過早，但我們認為 EB 的成長幅度應該在 15% 到 23% 之間，而不是我們強調的基數。在我們在投資者日展示的模型中，我們的平均售價也下降了 7%。正如克里斯所強調的，我們也看到 ASP 的下降幅度低得多，只有個位數。

So as we see exabyte growth trend more to that 23% level and ASP is in the low single digits. There's definitely opportunity for revenue growth from a CAGR perspective to go from the sort of mid- to high single-digit range that we have highlighted at Investor Day to trend more towards the mid-teens.

因此，我們看到EB的成長趨勢接近23%的水平，而ASP則處於個位數的低點。從複合年增長率的角度來看，收入成長肯定有機會從我們在投資者日強調的中高個位數範圍轉向十幾歲的中段。

And if you take that mid-teens revenue growth with the OpEx levels that we've highlighted, we will probably be at an OpEx level of 10% of OpEx to revenue. So hopefully, that gives you a sense of bridging what we shared at Investor Day and the changing outlook that we see in the business as a result of the [AIT] wins that we're beginning to highlight.

如果將中等程度的收入成長與我們強調的營運支出水準結合起來，我們的營運支出水準很可能達到收入的 10%。因此，希望這能讓您感受到我們在投資者日所分享的內容與我們開始強調的 [AIT] 勝利所帶來的業務前景的變化之間的聯繫。

Thank you, Amit.

謝謝你，阿米特。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ananda Baruah, Loop Capital.

阿南達·巴魯阿（Ananda Baruah），Loop Capital。

Yeah, good afternoon guys. Thanks for taking the question. I really appreciate it two if I could, I'll do one and then one. Could you remind us of the aerial density road map from here until HAMR? And where do you think you come out aerial density-wise, let's say you sort of execute to the first half 2020 -- calendar year 2027 road map. Where do you think your aerial density lies there? So the road map up to that point and then where do you think you come out of that with HAMR? Thanks.

是的，大家下午好。感謝您回答這個問題。如果可以的話，我真的很感激，我會做一個，然後再做一個。能否提醒我們從這裡到 HAMR 的空中密度路線圖？假設您執行 2020 年上半年至 2027 年的路線圖，您認為空中密度會達到什麼程度？您認為那裡的空中密度是多少？那麼，到那時為止的路線圖以及您認為 HAMR 的成果如何？謝謝。

Sure. No problem. Also, our current ePMR product that we've brought into the marketplace is a 26-terabyte CMR, 32-terabyte UltraSMR. We have highlighted in our road map, we look to start qualification for our next generation of ePMR, which will be our final generation of ePMR in the first half of calendar year '26. That will be a 28-terabyte CMR, 36-terabyte UltraSMR.

當然。沒問題。此外，我們目前推出市場的 ePMR 產品是 26 TB 的 CMR 和 32 TB 的 UltraSMR。我們在路線圖中強調，我們希望在 2026 年上半年開始對下一代 ePMR 進行資格認證，這將是我們最後一代 ePMR。那將是 28 TB 的 CMR 和 36 TB 的 UltraSMR。

And then we will start qualification of HAMR in the second half of calendar year '27 with ramp in the first half of calendar year '27. That will be at the 38 terabytes CMR, 44-terabyte UltraSMR. As we've highlighted in the past, we feel the 4 terabyte per platter, if you assume a tendons drive 40 terabyte drive 4 terabytes per platter of where we see things as of now, the economic cross over where it makes economic sense to transition to HAMR.

然後，我們將在 2027 年下半年開始對 HAMR 進行資格認證，並在 2027 年上半年進行量產。那將是 38 TB 的 CMR 和 44 TB 的 UltraSMR。正如我們過去所強調的那樣，我們認為每張碟片 4 TB，如果你假設肌腱驅動器 40 TB，每張碟片 4 TB，那麼我們現在看到的情況是，經濟交叉，過渡到 HAMR 是經濟合理的。

That's great. Thanks.

那太棒了。謝謝。

Do you have a follow-up, Ananda?

您還有後續問題嗎，阿南達？

I do, Ambrish. And really more of a clarification. You guys mentioned the Platforms business and opportunity to sell dense systems into (inaudible) by AI companies, don't have their own infrastructure. Are those the [neo cloud]? Is that what you're talking about?

是的，安布里什。確實更加澄清了。你們提到了平台業務和向沒有自己基礎設施的人工智慧公司銷售密集系統的機會（聽不清楚）。這些是[新雲]？這就是你所說的嗎？

And then how many of the -- like -- and if yes, like what's a useful way to think about which of that cadre may not have their own infrastructure change? I'd imagine some of the larger ones do. So just in a useful context would be helpful. Thanks.

那麼有多少——比如——如果是的話，有什麼有用的方法來思考哪些幹部可能沒有自己的基礎設施變革？我想一些較大的公司確實如此。因此，只要在有用的環境中就會有幫助。謝謝。

Sure. Thanks for the question. I'll give you some insight. We actually do have really one large cloud provider that's buying platforms from us today that's being deployed at scale. We also have quite a significant number of storage as a service providers that are leveraging our platforms business as well to deliver those services to customers.

當然。謝謝你的提問。我會給你一些見解。事實上，確實有一家大型雲端供應商正在從我們這裡購買平台並進行大規模部署。我們還有相當多的儲存即服務供應商，他們也利用我們的平台業務向客戶提供這些服務。

And as you've highlighted, a lot of the neo clouds, their primary focus is really on driving compute capabilities, supporting their customers with their LLM development and then really looking at how they can either leverage the cloud or our platform like systems to really support their storage requirements going forward. So we think there's a lot of legs to this business.

正如您所強調的，許多 Neo 雲端的主要重點實際上是推動運算能力，透過 LLM 開發支援客戶，然後真正研究如何利用雲端或我們的平台系統來真正支援他們未來的儲存需求。因此我們認為這項業務前景廣闊。

Obviously, it's early days and very similar to what we saw in the cloud, it starts with compute and then eventually it will come down to storage as we saw even in AI in the mainstream cloud where it was GPUs first, HBMs, BRAMs and then eventually, we are seeing that flow through to storage. We think that sort of trend will play itself out in the neo cloud as well and be very beneficial for our platforms business.

顯然，現在還處於早期階段，與我們在雲端中看到的非常相似，它從計算開始，然後最終將歸結為存儲，就像我們在主流雲中的 AI 中看到的那樣，首先是 GPU，然後是 HBM、BRAM，最後，我們看到它流向存儲。我們認為這種趨勢也會在 Neo Cloud 中發揮作用，並對我們的平台業務非常有利。

Thank you, Anand.

謝謝你，阿南德。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Mark Miller, The Benchmark Company.

馬克‧米勒（Mark Miller），基準公司。

Thank you for the question. I'm just wondering, could you actually quantify the hard drive ASPs in the quarter?

謝謝你的提問。我只是想知道，您能否實際量化本季的硬碟 ASP？

Sorry, what's the question?

抱歉，請問什麼問題？

What were your hard drive ASPs in the June quarter?

你們第二季的硬碟平均售價是多少？

You mean, unit?

你的意思是，單位？

The average selling price -- yeah, for hard drives.

平均售價——是的，對於硬碟來說。

Yeah. So we -- as you see the disclosures. This is Ambrish. We have stopped providing ASP per unit because as Irving highlighted earlier, that what's more important for our business is EP. And so just to give you a context of why we changed and what we are providing now.

是的。因此我們—正如您所看到的披露。這是 Ambrish。我們已經停止提供每單位 ASP，因為正如 Irving 之前所強調的那樣，對我們的業務來說更重要的是 EP。因此，我們只是想向您介紹我們為什麼做出改變以及我們現在提供的產品/服務。

Kris, do you want to add to that?

克里斯，你想補充嗎？

Yeah. And I think we provided the units. And so I think it's -- you can easily do the math, and you will see, I think, a substantial sequential as well as year-over-year growth in our revenue per drive that we have. But again, it's -- a lot of it depends on the mix of our overall revenue -- and so for me, that number is somewhat meaningful. Yes, it's trending upwards, again, mostly driven by the move to higher capacity drives, something that we work with our customers on.

是的。我認為我們提供了這些單位。所以我認為——你可以輕鬆地計算一下，你會看到，我們的每塊硬碟的收入在連續和同比增長方面都有了顯著的增長。但同樣，這很大程度上取決於我們的整體收入結構，因此對我來說，這個數字有一定的意義。是的，它再次呈現上升趨勢，主要是由於向更高容量驅動器的轉變，這是我們與客戶合作實現的。

And just finally, DSOs for the quarter ?

最後，本季的 DSO？

DSO?

DSO？

Right.

正確的。

I don't have it on top of my head, but we did -- as a company, we did a really good job at managing our working capital. I'm very comfortable with the level of inventory that we have now, which is on or about $ 1.3 billion that translate into days of inventory of 76 days. And then the DSOs came down, I believe, 6 days on a sequential basis and is now at 52 days. So again, really, as you know, DSOs is mostly driven by the billing lineaity within the quarter. And as Irving indicated that before, that continues to be very strong as well.

我並沒有完全記住，但是我們確實——作為一家公司，我們在管理營運資金方面做得非常好。我對我們目前的庫存水準非常滿意，庫存約為 13 億美元，相當於庫存天數為 76 天。然後，我相信 DSO 連續下降了 6 天，現在是 52 天。所以，如您所知，DSO 主要由季度內的計費線驅動。正如歐文之前指出的那樣，這種勢頭仍然非常強勁。

Thank you.

謝謝。

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Irving Tan for any closing remarks.

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

Thank you all again for joining us today and your interest in Western Digital. As our results and guidance show, we continue to make good progress executing on our strategy, and we look forward to sharing more on the exciting innovations we have in the pipeline and actions we are taking towards creating long-term shareholder value in future calls.

再次感謝大家今天的參與以及對西部數據的關注。正如我們的業績和指引所示，我們在執行策略方面繼續取得良好進展，我們期待在未來的電話會議上分享更多我們正在進行的激動人心的創新以及我們為創造長期股東價值而採取的行動。

Let me close by giving a call out to all our WD drivers who show up every day, making a difference for our customers, shareholders, ecosystem partners and each other. Thank you all very much, and have a great day ahead.

最後，我要向所有 WD 司機致以最誠摯的問候，感謝他們每天辛勤工作，為我們的客戶、股東、生態系統合作夥伴以及彼此做出貢獻。非常感謝大家，祝大家有個愉快的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。