Western Digital’s client devices revenue increased 20 per cent, data center devices and solutions revenue declined 26 per cent, and client solutions declined five per cent YoY
Western Digital Corp. has reported fiscal first quarter 2021 financial results. The company noted that its fiscal first quarter of 2021 was a 13-week fiscal quarter, compared to a 14-week fiscal quarter a year ago.
“I am pleased with our results, as we continued to focus our execution on the massive market opportunity for data storage technology that stems from the ongoing expansion of cloud infrastructure connected to intelligent endpoints and powered by high performance networks,” said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO.
The company’s client devices revenue increased 20 per cent, data center devices and solutions revenue declined 26 per cent, and client solutions declined five per cent YoY.
Uncertainty associated with the global economic contraction
In the fiscal first quarter of 2021, Western Digital’s revenue decreased three per cent year-over-year to $3.9 billion. The decrease, as per the company, is largely attributable to the uncertainty associated with the global economic contraction and geopolitical headwinds, which resulted in shifts in customer buying patterns impacting Data Center Devices & Solutions and Client Solutions.
In Client Devices, Western Digital’s SSD solutions for notebook and desktops seem to have benefitted from the acceleration of work from home and remote learning trends. Gaming experienced significant growth as upcoming game consoles transition from hard drive-based storage solutions to flash, powering a more real-time, immersive gaming experience. In addition, mobile revenue more than doubled, driven by recent 5G phone launches and a broadening of end customers within China.
In Data Center Devices & Solutions, both Capacity Enterprise hard drive and Enterprise SSD (eSSD) demand were negatively impacted by shifts in customer ordering patterns noted the company. Important product transitions in hard drive and flash-based storage solutions also impacted demand trends as customers are still ramping up on these newer products.
In Client Solutions, Western Digital continued to recover as many brick and mortar customers reopened from COVID-19-related lock downs during the period. In addition, demand related to work from home and distance learning benefitted both hard drive and flash-based solutions.
“While we are still managing through macro uncertainty, during the quarter we benefitted from strength particularly in the retail sector, driven by favorable macro and market dynamics, as well as the brand recognition of our products. Our diversified storage portfolio strategy implemented through our recently announced organizational structure will enable us to accelerate growth, improve our focus, and drive sustainable, long-term shareholder value,” added Goeckeler.
