I It is reported that the memory semiconductor market continues to slump! As the fourth largest manufacturer Western Digital's Q2 performance in 2023 fell by more than 30%, the brand announced for the first time a further reduction of production by 30%, and this year's capital expenditure will be reduced by 14.8%. According to online reports, Western Digital's share of the global NAND flash memory market is 12.6%. In this scenario, equipment investment will be further reduced, and NAND wafer production will be greatly reduced.
II According to professional reports, Western Digital Corporation (WDC), a world-renowned hard disk manufacturer, was established in 1970 and is headquartered in California, USA. It has branches all over the world to provide storage products for global users.
III In terms of other brands, SK Hynix's net profit in 2022 will drop by more than 70%, and Samsung has also cut production. So, is the storage industry "cold", and Samsung Electronics will repeat the same tricks? Although Samsung's profits will plummet in the fourth quarter of 2022, the brand will not cut investment. At the beginning of last year, there were media reports that Samsung and Western Digital reached a cooperation to promote the standardization of next-generation storage technology. There is also a big giant Apple's revenue fell 5% last quarter, the first decline in four years.
IV In contrast, Western Digital found that its Q4 revenue fell by 8% year-on-year, and the Q1 guidance for fiscal year 2023 was worse than expected. Last year, Western Digital (WDC. US) Q3 revenue increased by 6% year-on-year, exceeding expectations, and adjusted US stock earnings were $1.65.
V In addition, Western Digital announced that it has received an investment of 900 million U.S. dollars and will promote the merger with Kioxia. After the merger, the NAND market share will surpass Samsung. Kioxia and Western Digital are considering merging their flash memory production business, which will be listed in the US and Japan in the future.
VI Western Digital also introduced the first dual-drive mechanical hard drive. The sequential/random read and write speed of this hard disk is directly doubled.
VII In the field of NAND flash memory, Micron, another large global manufacturer, started shipping 1.5TB microSD cards with 176-layer NAND flash memory. Samsung has been the world's largest DRAM manufacturer for 30 consecutive years and the largest NAND flash memory manufacturer for 20 consecutive years. Samsung continues to rank first in DRAM and NAND market share, but is facing challenges from competitors.
VIII Benchmark analysis said: the market outlook has deteriorated, maintaining Western Digital (WDC. US) "sell" rating, with a target price of $28. There are limits to the cyclical recovery, so Western Digital (WDC. US) was upgraded to "hold". Last year, Seagate Technology lowered its Q1 revenue forecast, which unfortunately dragged down Western Digital and was downgraded by Benchmark.
IX All in all, Western Digital has always insisted on: providing computing infrastructure for the digital age, empowering open computing; making data like a spark, lighting up the entire night sky of the digital economy. Obviously, Western Digital breaks through the boundaries of data storage, empowers open computing, and provides edge-to-center storage solutions for the connected world. At this stage, the brand is evaluating strategic options including splitting the flash and hard drive businesses.
