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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K

(Mark One)
☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024
Or
☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from                      to                     
Commission file number: 1-8703

wdcolor logo.gif.gif
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
Delaware33-0956711
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
5601 Great Oaks ParkwaySan Jose,California95119
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (408) 717-6000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each classTrading symbol(s)Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $0.01 Par Value Per ShareWDCThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
 (Nasdaq Global Select Market)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ¨    No  ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filerAccelerated filerNon-accelerated filerSmaller reporting companyEmerging growth company
ý
☐☐☐☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.    ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ý
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.  ý

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b) ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ý
The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on December 29, 2023, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was $12.90 billion, based on the closing sale price as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
There were 343,451,583 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding as of the close of business on August 7, 2024.
Documents Incorporated by Reference
Part III incorporates by reference certain information from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”) for the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the 2024 fiscal year. Except with respect to information specifically incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K, the Proxy Statement is not deemed to be filed as part hereof.

1

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
INDEX
PAGE NO.
PART I
Item 1.
Business
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
Item 1B.
Unresolved Staff Comments
Item 1C.
Cybersecurity
Item 2.
Properties
Item 3.
Legal Proceedings
Item 4.
Mine Safety Disclosures
PART II
Item 5.
Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Item 6.
[Reserved]
Item 7.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Item 7A.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Item 9.
Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Item 9A.
Controls and Procedures
Item 9B.
Other Information
Item 9C.Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
PART III
Item 10.
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Item 11.
Executive Compensation
Item 12.
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
Item 13.
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Item 14.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services
PART IV
Item 15.
Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
Item 16.
Form 10-K Summary

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

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

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

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any statements that do not relate to historical or current facts or matters are forward-looking statements. You can identify some of the forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words, such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “potential,” “plan,” “forecast,” and the like, or the use of future tense. Statements concerning current conditions may also be forward-looking if they imply a continuation of current conditions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning:

•our expectations regarding our plan to separate our HDD and Flash business units;

•our product plans and business strategies;

•consumer trends and market conditions;

•expectations regarding demand trends, market opportunities and our market position;

•expectations regarding our future financial performance;

•the impact of the global macroeconomic environment;

•expectations related to our agreed sale of a portion of our equity interest in SanDisk Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.;

•expectations related to our joint ventures and partnerships including relating to our Flash Ventures joint venture with Kioxia Corporation (“Kioxia”);

•expectations regarding our product development and technology plans;

•expectations regarding capital expenditure plans and investments;

•expectations regarding our tax resolutions, effective tax rate and our unrecognized tax benefits;

•expectations regarding the merits of our position and our plans with respect to certain litigation matters; and

•our beliefs regarding our capital allocation plans and the sufficiency of our available liquidity to meet our working capital, debt and capital expenditure needs.

These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, represent the most current information available to the Company as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You are urged to carefully review the disclosures we make concerning risks and other factors that may affect the outcome of our forward-looking statements and our business and operating results, including those made in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and any of those made in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Report. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

WEBSITE REFERENCES

In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we make references to our website at www.westerndigital.com. References to our website through this Form 10-K are provided for convenience only and the content on our website does not constitute a part of, and shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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  PART I

Item 1.    Business

General

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

Our broad portfolio of technology and products addresses multiple end markets: “Cloud,” “Client” and “Consumer.”

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

On October 30, 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors had completed its strategic review of our business and, after evaluating a comprehensive range of alternatives, authorized us to pursue a plan to separate our HDD and Flash business units to create two independent, public companies. We believe the separation will better position each business unit to execute innovative technology and product development, capitalize on unique growth opportunities, extend respective leadership positions and operate more efficiently with distinct capital structures. The completion of the planned separation is subject to certain conditions, including final approval by our Board of Directors. Significant effort is underway and extensive progress has been made with respect to the separation as we continue to drive towards completing the work required to separate the businesses by the end of calendar year 2024.

Founded in 1970 in Santa Ana, California, Western Digital is now a Standard & Poor’s 500 (“S&P 500”) company headquartered in San Jose, California. We have valuable patent portfolios containing approximately 13,000 active patents, covering groundbreaking memory technologies and beyond. We have extensive customer, partner and channel relationships across a number of end markets and geography and have a rich heritage of innovation and operational excellence, a wide range of intellectual property (“IP”) assets, broad research and development (“R&D”) capabilities and large-scale, efficient manufacturing supply chains. The strong growth in the amount, value and use of data continues, creating a global need for larger, faster and more capable storage solutions.

We are a customer-focused organization that has developed deep relationships with industry leaders to continue to deliver innovative solutions to help users capture, store and transform data across a boundless range of applications. With much of the world’s data stored on Western Digital products, our innovation powers the global technology ecosystem from consumer devices to the edge, to the heart of the cloud. We enable cloud, Internet and social media infrastructure players to build more powerful, cost-effective and efficient data centers. We help OEMs address storage opportunities and solutions to capture and transform data in a myriad of devices and edge technologies. We have also built strong consumer brands with tools to manage vast libraries of personal content and to push the limits of what is possible for storage. At Western Digital, we continue to transform ourselves to address the growth in data by providing what we believe to be the broadest range of storage technologies in the industry with a comprehensive product portfolio and global reach.

Industry

We operate in the data storage industry. The ability to access, store and share data from anywhere on any device is increasingly important to our customers and end users. From the intelligent edge to the cloud, data storage is a fundamental component underpinning the global technology architecture. Our strengths in innovation and cost leadership, diversified product portfolio and broad routes to market provide a foundation upon which we are solidifying our position as an essential building block of the digital economy. We believe there is tremendous market opportunity flowing from the rapid global adoption of the technology architecture built with cloud infrastructure tied to intelligent endpoints all connected by high-performance networks.

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The increase in computing complexity and advancements in artificial intelligence (“AI”), along with growth in cloud computing applications, connected mobile devices and Internet-connected products and edge devices is driving unabated growth in the volume of digital content to be stored and used. This growth has led to the creation of new form factors for data storage. The storage industry is increasingly utilizing tiered architectures with solid state drives (“SSD”), HDD and other non-volatile memory-based storage to address an expanding set of uses and applications. We believe our expertise and innovation across both HDD and Flash technologies enable us to bring powerful solutions to a broad range of applications. We continuously monitor the full array of storage technologies, including reviewing these technologies with our customers, to ensure we are appropriately resourced to meet our customers’ storage needs.

Technology

Hard Disk Drives. HDD products provide non-volatile data storage by recording magnetic information on a rotating disk. We develop and manufacture substantially all of the recording heads and magnetic media used in our HDD products. We have led the industry in innovation to drive increased areal density and high-performance attributes. Our improvements in HDD capacity, which lower product costs over time, have been enabled largely through advancements in magnetic recording head and media technologies. Our multi-year product roadmap for high-capacity HDD, which combines ePMR, OptiNAND, UltraSMR and triple stage actuators to deliver a cutting-edge portfolio of drives, in commercial volumes, at a wide variety of capacity points, puts Western Digital in a strong position to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the large and growing storage markets. We invest considerable resources in R&D, manufacturing infrastructure and capital equipment for recording head and media technology, as well as other aspects of the magnetic recording system such as HDD mechanics, controller and firmware technology, in order to secure our competitive position and cost structure. Our products generally leverage a common platform for various products within product families, and in some cases across product families, resulting in the commonality of components which reduces our exposure to changes in demand, facilitates inventory management and allows us to achieve lower costs through purchasing economies. This platform strategy also enables our customers to leverage their qualification efforts onto successive product models.

Flash Technologies. Flash-based products provide non-volatile data storage based on flash technology. We develop and manufacture solid state storage products for a variety of applications including enterprise or cloud, client, automotive, mobile devices and removable memory devices. Over time, we have successfully developed and commercialized successive generations of multi-dimensional flash technology with increased numbers of storage bits per cell in an increasingly smaller form factor, further driving cost reductions. We devote significant R&D resources to the development of highly reliable, high-performance, cost-effective flash-based technology and are continually pursuing developments in next-generation flash-based technology capacities. We are leveraging our expertise, resources and strategic investments in non-volatile memories to explore a wide spectrum of persistent memory and storage class memory technologies. We have also initiated, defined and developed standards to meet new market needs and to promote wide acceptance of flash storage standards through interoperability and ease of use.

Our Data Solutions

Our broad portfolio of technology and products addresses multiple end markets of “Cloud,” “Client” and “Consumer” and are comprised of the Western Digital®, SanDisk® and WD® brands.

Cloud represents a large and growing end market comprised primarily of products for public or private cloud environments and enterprise customers. We provide the Cloud end market with an array of high-capacity enterprise HDD, high-performance enterprise SSD and platforms. Our capacity enterprise hard disk drives provide high-capacity storage needs and a low total cost of ownership for the growing cloud data center and smart video system markets. These drives are primarily for use in data storage systems, in tiered storage models and where data must be stored reliably for years. Our high-performance enterprise class SSD include high-performance flash-based SSD and software solutions that are optimized for performance applications providing a range of capacity and performance levels primarily for use in enterprise servers and supporting high-volume online transactions, AI-related workloads, data analysis and other enterprise applications. We also provide higher value data storage platforms to the market.

Through the Client end market, we provide numerous data solutions that we incorporate into our client’s devices, which consist of HDD and SSD desktop and notebook PCs, gaming consoles and set top boxes, as well as flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs and other portable and wearable devices, automotive applications, Internet of Things and industrial and connected home applications. Our HDD and SSD are designed for use in devices requiring high performance, reliability and capacity with various attributes such as low cost per gigabyte, quiet acoustics, low power consumption and protection against shocks.
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We serve the Consumer end market with a portfolio of HDD and SSD embedded into external storage products and removable Flash, which include cards, universal serial bus (“USB”) flash drives and wireless drives, through our retail and channel routes to market. Our external HDD storage products in both mobile and desktop form factors provide affordable, high quality, reliable storage for backup and capacity expansion that are designed to keep digital content secure. We offer client portable SSD with a range of capacities and performance characteristics to address a broad spectrum of the client storage market. Our removable cards are designed primarily for use in consumer devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, imaging systems, cameras and smart video systems. Our USB flash drives are used in the computing and consumer markets and are designed for high-performance and reliability. Our wireless drive products allow in-field backup of created content, as well as wireless streaming of high-definition movies, photos, music and documents to tablets, smartphones and PCs.

Competition

Our industry is highly competitive. We believe we are well-positioned with our leading product portfolio, premium consumer brand, differentiated semiconductor innovation engine and leadership in driving cost efficiency. Nevertheless, we face strong competition from other manufacturers of HDD and Flash in the Cloud, Client and Consumer end markets. In HDD, we compete with Seagate Technology Holdings plc and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation. In Flash, we compete with vertically integrated suppliers such as Kioxia, Micron Technology, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SK Hynix, Inc., Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd. and numerous smaller companies that develop and manufacture flash-based products.

Business Strategy

Our overall strategy focuses on leadership, innovation and execution to be an industry-leading and broad-based developer, manufacturer and provider of storage devices and solutions that support the infrastructure that has enabled the unabated proliferation of data. Our strategy reflects the following foundational elements that we strive to meet:

•Drive Leadership in HDD
▪Provide reliable capacity growth and improved total cost of ownership
▪Enhance customers’ ability to generate value from data
▪Develop new technologies across the storage landscape

•Drive Differentiated Leadership in Flash
▪Capitalize on market transition to solid state drives
▪Focus on gross margin leadership
▪Leverage consumer brand strength

•Lead in Storage Innovation
▪Lead in areal density
▪Invest in leading HDD technologies to enable future drive capacity transition
▪Drive capital-efficient bit growth in flash
▪Explore tailored storage solutions to address the evolving workload requirements of generative AI

•Deliver Customer Value
▪Increase long-term engagement and through-cycle agreements with key hyperscalers
▪Maintain and expand strategic relationships with customers while transitioning into two market-leading companies

•Accelerate Operational Excellence
▪Achieve operational excellence to translate technology into stockholder value
▪Meet cost reduction targets to improve gross margin
▪Focus on sustainability and digital innovation of our manufacturing processes

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Research and Development

We devote substantial resources to the development of new products and the improvement of existing products. We focus our engineering efforts on optimizing our product design and manufacturing processes to bring our products to market in a cost-effective and timely manner. For a discussion of associated risks, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Patents, Licenses and Proprietary Information

We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and licensing arrangements to protect our IP rights.

We have approximately 13,000 active patents worldwide and have many patent applications in process. We continually seek additional United States (“U.S.”) and international patents on our technology. We believe that, although our active patents and patent applications have considerable value, the successful manufacturing and marketing of our products also depends upon the technical and managerial competence of our staff. Accordingly, the patents held and applied for cannot alone ensure our future success.

In addition to patent protection of certain IP rights, we consider elements of our product designs and processes to be proprietary and confidential. We believe that our non-patented IP, particularly some of our process technology, is an important factor in our success. We rely upon non-disclosure agreements, contractual provisions and a system of internal safeguards to protect our proprietary information. Despite these safeguards, there is a risk that competitors may obtain and use such information. The laws of foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct business may provide less protection for confidential information than the laws of the U.S.

We rely on certain technology that we license from other parties to manufacture and sell our products. We believe that we have adequate cross-licenses and other agreements in place in addition to our own IP portfolio to compete successfully in the storage industry. For a discussion of associated risks, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K.

Manufacturing and Suppliers

We believe that we have significant know-how, unique product manufacturing processes, test and tooling, execution skills, human resources and training to continue to be successful and to adjust our manufacturing operations as necessary. We strive to maintain manufacturing flexibility, high manufacturing yields, reliable products and high-quality components. The critical elements of our production of both HDD and Flash are high volume and utilization, low-cost assembly and testing, strict adherence to quality metrics and maintaining close relationships with our strategic component suppliers to access best-in-class technology and manufacturing capacity. We continually monitor our manufacturing capabilities to respond to the changing requirements of our customers and maintain our competitiveness and position as a data technology leader.

HDD and Flash manufacturing are each complex processes involving the production and assembly of precision components with narrow tolerances and rigorous testing. The manufacturing processes involve a number of steps that are dependent on each other and occur in “clean room” environments that demand skill in process engineering and efficient space utilization to control the operating costs of these manufacturing environments. We continually evaluate our manufacturing processes in an effort to increase productivity, sustain and improve quality and decrease manufacturing costs. We continually evaluate which steps in the manufacturing process would benefit from automation and how automated manufacturing processes can improve productivity and reduce manufacturing costs. We also leverage contract manufacturers when strategically advantageous. For more information on our agreement to sell a majority interest in one of our manufacturing facilities, see Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Key Developments.

HDD consists primarily of recording heads, magnetic media, controllers and firmware and a printed circuit board assembly. We design and manufacture substantially all of the recording heads and magnetic media required for our products. As a result, we are more dependent upon our own development and execution efforts for these components and less reliant on recording head and magnetic media technologies developed by other manufacturers. We depend on an external supply base for all remaining components and materials for use in our HDD design, manufacturing and testing. We believe the use of our in-house manufacturing, assembly and test facilities provides the controls necessary to provide the demanding capabilities, performance and reliability our customers require.

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Our vertically integrated, in-house assembly and test operations for our HDD products are concentrated in Prachinburi and Bang Pa-In, Thailand; Penang, Johor Bahru, and Kuching, Malaysia; Laguna, Philippines; Shenzhen, China; and San Jose and Fremont, CA, USA.

Substantially all of our flash memory supply utilized for our flash-based products is purchased from our joint ventures with Kioxia. From time to time, we also purchase flash memory from other flash manufacturers. Controllers are primarily designed in-house and manufactured by third-party foundries or acquired from third-party suppliers. We believe the use of our assembly and test facilities, as well as contract manufacturers, provides flexibility and gives us access to increased production capacity. We have developed deep relationships with these vendors and Kioxia to establish a continuous supply of flash-based memory and controllers.

We generally retain multiple suppliers for our component requirements, but for business or technology reasons, we source some of our components from a limited number of sole or single source providers. For a discussion of such risks, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Ventures with Kioxia

Our flash-based products consist of flash-based memory, controllers and firmware and other components. Substantially all of our flash-based memory is obtained from our joint ventures with Kioxia, which provide us with leading-edge, high-quality and low-cost flash memory wafers.

We and Kioxia currently operate three business ventures, Flash Partners Ltd., Flash Alliance Ltd. and Flash Forward Ltd., (collectively “Flash Ventures”) across seven flash-based manufacturing facilities in Japan, six of which are located in Yokkaichi, Japan and one of which is located in Kitakami, Japan. Flash Ventures will begin flash-based manufacturing operations at an eighth facility in Japan in calendar year 2025. Through Flash Ventures, we and Kioxia collaborate in the development and manufacture of flash-based memory wafers using semiconductor manufacturing equipment owned or leased by each of the Flash Ventures entities. We co-develop flash technologies (including process technology and memory design) with Kioxia for Flash Ventures’ use. We hold a 49.9% ownership position in each of the Flash Ventures entities. We jointly control with Kioxia the operations of Flash Ventures, and we believe our participation in Flash Ventures helps us reduce product costs, increases our ability to control the quality of our products and speeds delivery of our products to our customers.

Kioxia owns the facilities and provides wafer manufacturing services to Flash Ventures at cost using manufacturing equipment owned or leased by Flash Ventures and process technologies co-owned or contributed by us and Kioxia. We and Kioxia are entitled to purchase a share of Flash Ventures’ output, which generally equals 50% each. The price for which we and Kioxia pay Flash Ventures for flash memory wafers is cost plus a small markup. We are obligated to pay for variable costs incurred in producing our share of Flash Ventures’ flash-based memory wafer supply, based on a rolling forecast. In addition, we are obligated to pay for half of Flash Ventures’ fixed costs regardless of the output we choose to purchase.

The agreements governing the operations of the Flash Ventures entities also set out a framework for any investment by the joint venture partners in flash manufacturing capacity. We have jointly invested, and intend to continue to jointly invest, with Kioxia in the manufacturing equipment needed to support Flash Ventures’ flash manufacturing operations. In addition, we are obligated to fund 49.9% to 50.0% of each Flash Ventures entity’s capital investments to the extent that the Flash Ventures entity’s operating cash flow is insufficient to fund these investments.

For a discussion of risks associated with our business ventures with Kioxia, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Sales and Distribution

We sell our products to computer manufacturers and OEMs, cloud service providers, resellers, distributors and retailers throughout the world. We maintain sales offices in selected parts of the world including the major geographies of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. Our international sales, which include sales to foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies but do not include sales to U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, represented 72%, 69% and 71% of our net revenue for 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Sales to international customers are subject to certain risks not normally encountered in domestic operations, including exposure to tariffs and various trade regulations. For a discussion of such risks, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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We perform our marketing and advertising functions both internally and through outside firms utilizing both consumer media and trade publications targeting various reseller and end-user markets. We also maintain customer relationships through direct communication and by providing information and support through our website. In accordance with standard storage industry practice, we provide distributors and retailers with limited price protection and programs under which we reimburse certain marketing expenditures. We also provide distributors, resellers and OEMs with other sales incentive programs.

For each of 2024, 2023 and 2022, no single customer accounted for 10% or more of our net revenue.

Seasonality

We have historically experienced seasonal fluctuations in our business with higher levels of demand in the first and second quarters as a result of increased customer spending. Seasonality is also impacted by cyclicality in the industry and macroeconomic conditions. For a discussion of associated risks, see Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Service and Warranty

We generally warrant our newly manufactured products against defects in materials and workmanship from one to five years from the date of sale depending on the type of product, with a small number of products having a warranty ranging up to ten years or more. Our warranty obligation is generally limited to repair or replacement. We have engaged third parties in various countries in multiple regions to provide various levels of testing, processing or recertification of returned products for our customers. For additional information regarding our service and warranty policy, see Part II, Item 8, Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation, and Note 4, Supplemental Financial Statement Data, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our People

Our people strategy supports our purpose of being the world’s iconic data storage company through thoughtful offerings and inclusive practices that aim to attract, develop and engage talent. At the end of 2024, we employed approximately 51,000 people worldwide. Our diverse team spans 36 countries with approximately 85% of our employees in Asia Pacific, 13% in the Americas and 2% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Inclusion

To attract and retain the best talent, we strive to cultivate an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution. Our Employee Resource Groups (“ERGs”) are designed to promote an inclusive culture that embraces the uniqueness of our employees. We have eight ERGs with multiple global chapters that focus on women, LGBTQ+, racial and ethnic minorities, military veterans and people with disabilities. In support of creating an inclusive environment, we also launched unconscious bias education to all professional and technical employees in 2024.

We have multiple initiatives that focus on attracting talent and fostering our diverse representation across our global workforce, including diversity in personal characteristics, experience, skills, gender, race, ethnicity and membership in underrepresented communities. We continue to foster early talent through our intern and new college graduate recruitment programs, and in 2024, we converted nearly half of our global intern population to employees. In 2024, we launched our first-ever U.S. Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program, serving as a career pathway for veterans and other underserved populations. Furthermore, to minimize bias from the hiring process, we adopted data-driven tools as well as provided in-person and on-demand unconscious bias trainings to our recruiters and hiring managers.

As of June 28, 2024, women represented 26% of our management positions and 24% of our technical staff. Additionally, members of Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and other racially or ethnically diverse communities, represented 60% of our U.S. management positions. For additional details about our workforce, we encourage you to review our Sustainability Report, published annually and posted on our corporate website. Nothing on our website shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.






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Talent Development and Engagement

We believe in supporting our people through learning and development opportunities and our pay for performance philosophy. To help our employees reach their full potential, we aim to cultivate an environment that encourages learning, development and career growth. Our performance framework includes developing goals collaboratively through transparent and actionable feedback in regular check-ins and performance designations. Our new on-demand learning management system, launched in 2024, offers learning activities and tools to help employees chart their career journey and track their progress. To give employees the skills they need to lead, we offer learning through virtual fireside chats with external speakers and through our flagship program Leader Essentials, which received the bronze medal from the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards for Leadership Development in 2024. We also provide upskilling and reskilling opportunities to our factory employees through on-the-job training, technical classes, workshops and partnerships with universities and colleges.

We believe ongoing engagement is key to retention, and we prioritize that in many ways. We believe that listening is crucial to identifying opportunities to strengthen employee engagement and influence our overall strategy. Our latest survey completed in 2024 had a participation rate of nearly 90%. The survey results indicated that for our professional/technical employees, the company excels in areas of manager satisfaction, prioritization of work and sense of purpose. Our factory employees indicated that sense of purpose, company prospects and feeling of belonging were the top areas of strengths. We also engage employees by taking action to promote and ground them in our core values and beliefs, and to support our commitment to conducting business in an ethical way. In 2024, we were named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for the sixth consecutive year. Our employees also regularly participate in philanthropy to support the communities in which they work and live. In 2024, more than half of our employees gave their time to participate in company-sponsored volunteer events.

Compensation and Benefits

We believe that recognition is crucial for retaining and motivating our employees, and we are committed to rewarding performance with competitive compensation consisting of base salary and short-term and long-term incentives. We also offer a global recognition program to celebrate the contributions of employees who bring to life our core values – to think big, create possibility, make it happen and do it together.

We invest in the physical, mental and financial well-being of our people through a dynamic and differentiated Total Rewards program that aligns to our culture and values. We provide competitive benefits (which vary by country/region), including health coverage, life and disability insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, employee assistance program and employee stock purchase plan. In 2024, we continued our multi-year journey to modernize our benefits portfolio to offer more choices to meet the unique needs of our diverse employees.

We benchmark our compensation and benefits programs annually using market data from reputable third-party consultants. We also conduct internal focus groups and employee surveys to inform programs and identify opportunities. To ensure that our pay practices are fair and equitable, we conduct an annual pay equity assessment to promote equal pay for equal work regardless of gender. This review analyzes current pay considering various non-discriminatory factors, such as seniority, experience, skills, performance, location, track and hiring and promotion dates. We use the results to make pay adjustments as needed. In 2024, our assessment covered 100% of our global employee population, and we furthered our pay equity efforts by engaging in a living wage analysis.

Health and Safety

We are committed to creating a safe work environment everywhere we operate. We provide extensive health and safety resources and training to all of our employees, especially those who work in our manufacturing and operations. We use an integrated management system to manage health and safety standards at our manufacturing facilities.

Government Regulation

Our worldwide business activities are subject to various laws, rules and regulations of the United States as well as of foreign governments. Compliance with existing or future governmental regulations, including, but not limited to, those pertaining to global trade, the environment, consumer and data protection, employee health and safety and taxes, could have a material impact on our capital expenditures, earnings, competitive position and overall business in subsequent periods. See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors for a discussion of these potential impacts.

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Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

We believe responsible and sustainable business practices support our long-term success. As a company, we are deeply committed to protecting and supporting our people, our environment and our communities. That commitment is reflected through sustainability-focused initiatives as well as day-to-day activities, including our adoption of sustainability-focused policies and procedures, our publicly-recognized focus on fostering an inclusive workplace, our constant drive toward more efficient use of materials and energy, our careful and active management of our supply chain, our community-focused volunteerism programs and philanthropic initiatives and our impactful, globally-integrated ethics and compliance program.

•We seek to protect the human rights and civil liberties of our employees through policies, procedures and programs that avoid risks of compulsory and child labor, both within our company and throughout our supply chain.

•We foster a workplace of dignity, respect, diversity and inclusion through our recruiting and advancement practices, internal communications and employee resource groups.

•We educate our employees annually on relevant ethics and compliance topics, publish accessible guidance on ethical issues and related company resources in our Global Code of Conduct and encourage reporting of ethical concerns through any of several global and local reporting channels.

•We support local communities throughout the world, focusing on hunger relief, environmental quality and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, especially for underrepresented and underprivileged youth.

•We utilize a robust integrated management system, with associated policies and procedures, to evaluate and manage occupational health and safety risks, environmental compliance and chemical and hazardous substance risks.

•We work to minimize our impacts on the environment through emissions reduction targets and other initiatives and to evaluate and enhance our climate resiliency.

•We innovate to reduce the energy used by our products, the energy used to manufacture them and the amount of new materials required to manufacture them.

Available Information

We maintain an Internet website at www.westerndigital.com. The information on our website is not incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available on our website at www.westerndigital.com, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after the electronic filing of these reports with, or furnishing of these reports to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including us.

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Item 1A.    Risk Factors

Our business can be affected by a number of risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause material harm to our actual operating results and financial condition. The risks discussed below are not the only ones facing our business but represent risks that we believe are material to us. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also negatively affect our business.

OPERATIONAL RISKS

Adverse global or regional conditions could harm our business.

A large portion of our revenue is derived from our international operations, and many of our products and components are produced overseas. As a result, our business depends significantly on global and regional conditions. Adverse changes in global or regional economic and social conditions, including, but not limited to, volatility in the financial markets, reduced access to credit, recession, inflation, rising interest rates, slower growth in certain geographic regions, political uncertainty, geopolitical tensions or conflicts, terrorism, other macroeconomic factors and new or changed regulations, could significantly harm demand for our products, increase credit and collectability risks, result in revenue reductions, reduce profitability as a result of underutilization of our assets, cause us to change our business practices, increase manufacturing and operating costs or result in impairment charges or other expenses.

Our revenue growth is significantly dependent on the growth of international markets, and we may face challenges in international sales markets. We are also subject to risks that could harm our business associated with our global manufacturing operations, global sales efforts and our utilization of contract manufacturers, including: the need to obtain governmental approvals and compliance with evolving foreign regulations; the need to comply with regulations on international business, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010, the anti-bribery laws of other countries and rules regarding conflict minerals; exchange, currency and tax controls and reallocations; weaker protection of IP rights; policies and financial incentives by governments in China, the United States, and countries in Europe and Asia designed to reduce dependence on foreign semiconductor manufacturing capabilities; trade restrictions, such as export controls, export bans, import restrictions, embargoes, sanctions, license and certification requirements (including semiconductor, encryption and other technology), tariffs and complex customs regulations; and difficulties in managing international operations, including appropriate internal controls.

We are dependent on a limited number of qualified suppliers who provide critical services, materials or components, and a disruption in our supply chain could negatively affect our business.

We depend on an external supply base for technologies, software (including firmware), preamps, controllers, dynamic random-access memory, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing. We also depend on suppliers for a portion of our wafer testing, chip assembly, product assembly and product testing, and on service suppliers for providing technical support for our products. In addition, we use logistics partners to manage our worldwide just-in-time hubs and distribution centers and to meet our freight needs. Many of the components and much of the equipment we acquire must be specifically designed for use in our products or for developing and manufacturing our products, and are only available from a limited number of suppliers, some of whom are our sole-source suppliers. We therefore depend on these suppliers to meet our business needs including dedicating adequate engineering resources to develop components that can be successfully integrated into our products.

Our suppliers have in the past been, and may in the future be, unable or unwilling to meet our requirements, including as a result of events outside of their control such as trade restrictions (including tariffs, quotas and embargoes), geopolitical conflicts, terrorism, public health crises or natural disasters. If we are unable to purchase sufficient quantities from our current suppliers or qualify and engage additional suppliers, or if we cannot purchase materials at a reasonable price, we may not be able to meet demand for our products. Trade restrictions, including tariffs, quotas and embargoes, demand from other high-volume industries for materials or components used in our products, disruptions in supplier relationships or shortages in other components and materials used in our customers’ products could result in increased costs to us or decreased demand for our products, which could negatively impact our business. Delays, shortages or cost increases experienced by our suppliers in developing or sourcing materials and components for use in our products or incompatibility or quality issues relating to our products, could also harm our business.

We do not have long-term contracts with some of our existing suppliers, nor do we always have guaranteed manufacturing capacity with our suppliers, so we cannot guarantee that they will devote sufficient resources or capacity to manufacturing our
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products. Any significant problems that occur at our suppliers could lead to product shortages or quality assurance problems. When we do have contractual commitments with suppliers in an effort to stabilize the supply of our components, those commitments may require us to buy a substantial number of components or make significant cash advances to the supplier and may not result in a satisfactory supply of our components. We have cancelled or deferred, and may continue to cancel or defer, outstanding purchase commitments with certain suppliers due to changes in actual and forecasted demand, which has resulted, and may continue to result in fees, penalties and other associated charges. Such cancellations or deferments can also negatively impact our relationships with certain suppliers or lead to a decline in the financial performance of certain suppliers, each of which could result in even more limited availability of components needed for our products.

In addition, our supply base has experienced industry consolidation. Our suppliers may be acquired by our competitors, decide to exit the industry or redirect their investments and increase costs to us. In addition, some of our suppliers have experienced a decline in financial performance, including as a result of cancelled or deferred purchase commitments. Where we rely on a limited number of suppliers or a single supplier, the risk of supplier loss due to industry consolidation or a decline in financial performance is increased. Some of our suppliers may also be competitors in other areas of our business, which could lead to difficulties in price negotiations or meeting our supply requirements.

Our operations, and those of certain of our suppliers and customers, are subject to substantial risk of damage or disruption.

We conduct our operations at large, high-volume, purpose-built facilities in California and throughout Asia. The facilities of many of our customers, our suppliers and our customers’ suppliers are also concentrated in certain geographic locations throughout Asia and elsewhere. If a fire (including a climate change-related fire), flood, earthquake, tsunami or other natural disaster, condition or event such as a power outage, contamination event, terrorist attack, cybersecurity incident, physical security breach, political instability, civil unrest, localized labor unrest or other employment issues or a health epidemic negatively affects any of these facilities, it would significantly affect our ability to manufacture or sell our products and source components and would harm our business. Possible impacts include work and equipment stoppages and damage to or closure of our facilities, or those of our suppliers or customers, for an indefinite period of time. Climate change has in the past and is expected to continue to increase the incidence and severity of certain natural disasters, including wildfires and adverse weather events. In addition, the geographic concentration of our manufacturing sites could exacerbate the negative impacts resulting from any of these problems.

We may incur losses beyond the limits of, or outside the scope of, the coverage of our insurance policies. There can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to maintain existing insurance coverage or that premiums will not increase substantially. Due to market availability, pricing or other reasons, we may elect not to purchase insurance coverage or to purchase only limited coverage. We maintain limited insurance coverage and, in some cases, no coverage at all, for natural disasters and damage to our facilities, as these types of insurance are sometimes not available or available only at a prohibitive cost. Climate change may reduce the availability or increase the cost of certain types of insurance by contributing to an increase in the incidence and severity of certain natural disasters. We depend upon Kioxia to obtain and maintain sufficient property, business interruption and other insurance for Flash Ventures. If Kioxia fails to do so, we could suffer significant unreimbursable losses, and such failure could also cause Flash Ventures to breach various financing covenants.

Public health crises have had, and could in the future have, a negative effect on our business.

Public health crises have in the past negatively impacted, and may in the future negatively impact, our workforce and operations, as well as those of our strategic partners, customers, suppliers and logistics providers. The impacts we experienced in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic included temporary closures of certain manufacturing facilities; under-absorbed overhead; increased logistics, component and other costs; decreased demand for our products; and manufacturing challenges. Future outbreaks of infectious disease or other public health crises may have similar impacts.

The effects of public health crises are uncertain and difficult to predict, but may also include disruptions to our supply chain, our operations or those of our strategic partners, customers or suppliers; deterioration of worldwide credit markets, which may limit our ability or increase our cost to obtain external financing and result in a higher rate of losses on our accounts receivable; volatility in financial markets, which may be extreme and could harm our ability to access the financial markets on acceptable terms or at all; increased data security and technology risks related to increased remote work; and reduced productivity or other disruptions of our operations. The degree to which any future public health crises ultimately impact our business will depend on many factors beyond our control, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.

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The loss of our key management, staff and skilled employees; the inability to hire and develop new employees; or decisions to realign our business could negatively impact our business prospects.

Our success depends upon the continued contributions of our talent. Changes in our key management team may result in loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge, departure of other key employees, disruptions to our operations and inefficiency during transitional periods. Global competition for skilled employees in the technology industry is intense, and our business success is increasingly dependent on our ability to attract, develop and retain top talent, implement succession plans for key management and staff and replace aging skilled employees. Changes in immigration policies may also impair our ability to recruit and hire technical and professional talent. Additionally, uncertainty about business realignment actions or the structure and organization of our business as a result of our ongoing separation of our HDD and Flash business units into two independent public companies could negatively impact our ability to recruit and retain key staff and skilled employees. We have and may continue to put retention arrangements in place for key employees to address the uncertainty about our business separation. When these retention payments are earned, we may suffer further attrition.

Our ability to hire and retain employees also depends on our ability to build and maintain a diverse and inclusive workplace culture and to fund competitive compensation and benefits, each of which contribute to being viewed as an employer of choice. Additionally, because a substantial portion of our key employees’ compensation is linked to the performance of our business, we may be at a competitive disadvantage for hiring and retaining talent when our operating results are negatively impacted. If we are unable to hire and retain key talent, our operating results would likely be harmed.

The compromise, damage or interruption of our technology infrastructure, information systems or products by cybersecurity incidents, data security breaches, other security problems, design defects, information system failures or other events could have a material negative impact on our business.

We experience cybersecurity incidents of varying degrees on our technology infrastructure and information systems and, as a result, unauthorized parties have obtained in the past, and may obtain in the future, access to our computer systems and networks, including cloud-based platforms. These incidents have in the past caused, and may in the future cause, disruption to parts of our business operations and result in various investigation, recovery and remediation expenses. In addition, the technology infrastructure and information systems of some of our suppliers, vendors, service providers, cloud solution providers and partners have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, such incidents. Cybersecurity incidents can be caused by ransomware, computer denial-of-service attacks, worms and other malicious software programs or other attacks, including the covert introduction of malware to computers and networks, and the use of techniques or processes that change frequently, may be disguised or difficult to detect, or are designed to remain dormant until a triggering event, and may continue undetected for an extended period of time. Cybersecurity incidents have in the past resulted from, and may in the future result from, social engineering or impersonation of authorized users, and may also result from efforts to discover and exploit any design flaws, bugs, security vulnerabilities or security weaknesses, intentional or unintentional acts by employees or other insiders with access privileges, intentional acts of vandalism or fraud by third parties and sabotage. In some instances, efforts to correct vulnerabilities or prevent incidents have in the past, and may in the future, reduce the functionality or performance of our information systems and networks, which could negatively impact our business. We believe malicious cybersecurity acts are increasing in number and that cybersecurity threat actors are increasingly organized and well-financed or supported by state actors, and are developing increasingly sophisticated systems and means to not only infiltrate information systems, but also to evade detection or to obscure their activities. Geopolitical tensions or conflicts may create heightened risk of cybersecurity incidents.

Our products are also targets for malicious cybersecurity acts, including those products utilized in cloud-based environments as well as our cloud service offerings. Our cloud services have in the past and may in the future be taken offline as a result of or in order to prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents. While some of our products contain encryption or security algorithms to protect third-party content or user-generated data stored on our products, these products could still be hacked or the encryption schemes could be compromised, breached or circumvented by motivated and sophisticated attackers, which could harm our business by exposing us to litigation and indemnification claims and hurting our reputation.

When efforts to breach our infrastructure, information systems or products are successful or we are unable to protect against such attacks, we have in the past suffered, and could in the future suffer, interruptions, delays or cessation of operations of our information systems, and loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information, IP, or sensitive or personal information. We may also experience disruptions or outages of our information systems due to internal or third-party mistakes or technical errors, including due to software updates, which could disrupt our business operations. Compromises of our infrastructure, information systems or products could also cause our customers and other affected third parties to suffer loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information, IP, or sensitive or personal information, and could harm our relationships
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with customers and other third parties and subject us to liability. As a result of actual or perceived cybersecurity incidents or other information system disruptions, we have in the past experienced and may in the future experience additional costs, notification requirements, civil and administrative fines and penalties, indemnification claims, litigation or damage to our brand and reputation. All of these consequences could harm our reputation and our business and materially and negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

We are subject to risks related to product defects, which could result in product recalls or epidemic failures and could subject us to warranty, litigation or indemnification claims that exceed our expectations or estimates.

We warrant the majority of our products for periods of one to five years. We test our products in our manufacturing facilities through a variety of means. However, our testing may fail to reveal defects in our products that may not become apparent until after the products have been sold into the market. In addition, our products may be used in a manner that is not intended or anticipated by us, resulting in potential liability. Accordingly, there is a risk that product defects will occur, including as a result of third-party components or applications that we incorporate in our products, which could require a product recall. Product recalls can be expensive to implement. As part of a product recall, we may be required or choose to replace the defective product. Moreover, there is a risk that product defects may trigger an epidemic failure clause in a customer agreement. If an epidemic failure occurs, we may be required to replace or refund the value of the defective product and to cover certain other costs associated with the consequences of the epidemic failure. In addition, product defects, product recalls or epidemic failures may cause damage to our reputation or customer relationships, lost revenue, indemnification for a recall of our customers’ products, warranty claims, litigation or loss of market share with our customers, including our OEM and original design manufacturer (“ODM”) customers. Our business liability insurance may be inadequate or future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Our standard warranties contain limits on damages and exclusions of liability for consequential damages and for misuse, improper installation, alteration, accident or mishandling while in the possession of someone other than us. We record an accrual for estimated warranty costs at the time revenue is recognized. We may incur additional expenses if our warranty provisions do not reflect the actual cost of resolving issues related to defects in our products, whether as a result of a product recall, epidemic failure or otherwise. If these additional expenses are significant, they could harm our business.

BUSINESS AND STRATEGIC RISKS

The proposed separation of our HDD and Flash business units into two independent public companies is subject to various risks and uncertainties and may not be completed in accordance with the expected plans or anticipated timeline, or at all.

On October 30, 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors had completed its review of potential strategic alternatives and had unanimously approved pursuing a plan to separate the Flash business unit from our remaining HDD business (the “Separation”). The Separation is intended to be structured in a tax-free manner and we continue to drive towards completing the work required to separate the businesses by the end of calendar year 2024. No assurance can be given as to whether the Separation will occur, when any such transaction will be approved or when any separation may be completed. Furthermore, while we are working toward the Separation, the specific assets, liabilities and entities to be separated are still being finalized and may change. We may determine to abandon any efforts with respect to the Separation at any time for any reason.

The form or other terms of the Separation may change over time, including with respect to the scope of the businesses to be separated or retained by us. The final determination to separate is subject to Board approval, the execution of definitive documentation, receipt of opinions or rulings as to the tax-free nature of the Separation and satisfaction of customary conditions, including the effectiveness of appropriate filings with the SEC, the completion of audited financial statements and the availability of financing. Additionally, no assurance can be given that the intended tax treatment will be achieved or that shareholders will not incur substantial tax liabilities in connection with the Separation. The failure to satisfy any of these conditions could delay the completion of the Separation for a significant period of time or prevent it from occurring at all.

Various factors, including changes in the competitive conditions of our markets, changes in financial markets and economic conditions, failure to obtain any third party consents that may be required for the Separation, delays in obtaining tax opinions or rulings, material or unanticipated tax liability for our shareholders, us, and/or the Flash business unit, and other challenges in executing the separation of the two businesses, could delay or prevent the completion of the Separation or cause it to occur on terms or conditions that are different or less favorable than expected.
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Further, our Board of Directors could decide, either because of a failure of conditions or because of market or other factors, to abandon the Separation.

Our review of the Separation has and will continue to involve significant time, expense and resources and could disrupt or adversely affect our business.

Executing the Separation has required and will continue to require significant time and attention from our senior management and employees and may divert their attention from operating and growing our business in ways that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our employees may also be distracted due to uncertainty about their future roles with the separated companies, and customers or suppliers could delay or defer decisions or may end their relationships with us.

In addition, we have incurred and will continue to incur expenses in connection with our strategic review and the consideration of the Separation and expect that the process of reviewing the Separation and executing the Separation, if any, will be time-consuming and involve significant additional costs and expenses, which may not yield a benefit if the Separation is not completed. If pursued, we will also incur ongoing costs and dis-synergies in connection with, or as a result of, the Separation and related restructuring transactions, including costs of operating as independent, publicly traded companies that the two businesses will no longer be able to share.

Any of the above factors could cause the Separation (or the failure to execute the Separation) to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and the trading price of our common stock and/or other securities.

The Separation may not achieve the anticipated benefits and could expose us to new risks, including with respect to our existing indebtedness and future capital structure.

We may not realize any strategic, financial, operational or other benefits from the Separation. We cannot predict with certainty if or when anticipated benefits will occur or the extent to which they will be achieved. If the Separation is completed, our operational and financial profile (including our capital structure) will change and we will face new risks. If the Separation is completed, we will be a smaller and less-diversified company and may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions. While we believe that the Separation will position each company to better unlock its full standalone long-term potential, we cannot assure you that following the Separation we will be successful. Further, there can be no assurance that the combined value of the shares of the two resulting companies will be equal to or greater than what the value of our common stock would have been had the Separation not occurred.

In addition, following the completion of the Separation or any other disposition of our Flash business unit, we will not be able to rely on the earnings, assets or cash flow of the Flash business unit, and that business will not provide funds to finance our working capital or other cash requirements. As a result, our ability to service our debt may be adversely affected.

We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock may trade after the Separation or the effect of the Separation on the trading prices of our common stock.

The Separation will be subject to numerous conditions, including the availability of financing. We have not obtained any financing with respect to the Separation transaction, including any new financing for the remaining business and the terms of any such arrangements may be more burdensome or costly than the terms of our current indebtedness or we may not be able to obtain credit on attractive terms and price. Furthermore, the Separation may leave us with higher leverage and may also cause us to violate provisions of contracts or breach covenants in our existing indebtedness if such contracts or indebtedness are not replaced, repaid or refinanced or waivers are not obtained prior to the Separation. For example, our credit facilities contain specific restrictions on any disposal of our Flash business unit. In addition, we cannot assure you that a holder of our outstanding senior notes will not argue that the Separation constitutes a change of control and try to require us to repurchase its notes as a result of the Separation.

We rely substantially on strategic relationships with various partners, including Kioxia, which subjects us to risks and uncertainties that could harm our business.

We have entered into and expect to continue to enter into strategic relationships with various partners for product development, manufacturing, sales growth and the supply of technologies, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing, including our business ventures with Kioxia. We depend on Flash Ventures for the
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development and manufacture of flash-based memory. Our strategic relationships, including Flash Ventures, are subject to various risks that could harm the value of our investments, our revenue and costs, our future rate of spending, our technology plans and our future growth opportunities. For example, while Flash Ventures is operating, certain of our agreements with Kioxia preclude us from manufacturing flash-based memory ourselves except to the extent that we acquire any manufacturing capacity of a Flash Ventures entity as a result of that entity’s dissolution, termination or acquisition by us. This could also impair our ability to consolidate with other industry participants who manufacture flash-based memory.

Substantially all of our flash-based memory is obtained from Flash Ventures, which limits our ability to respond to market demand and supply changes and makes our financial results particularly susceptible to variations from our forecasts and expectations. For example, we are contractually obligated to pay for 50% of the fixed costs of Flash Ventures regardless of whether we order any flash-based memory, and our orders placed with Flash Ventures on a three-month rolling basis are binding. As a result, a failure to accurately forecast supply and demand could cause us to over-invest or under-invest in inventory, technology transitions or the expansion of Flash Ventures’ capacity. Over-investment by us or our competitors can result in excess supply and lead to significant decreases in our product prices, significant excess, obsolete inventory or inventory write-downs or underutilization charges, and the potential impairment of our investments in Flash Ventures. For example, for our Flash business, in 2024 and 2023, we incurred $252 million and $296 million of charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs as a result of the reduced utilization of our manufacturing capacity, respectively. Additionally, in 2024, we recorded $108 million of charges to write-down our inventory as a result of decreases in market pricing. These charges were attributable to a significant imbalance of supply and demand and our actions taken in response thereto. On the other hand, if we under-invest in Flash Ventures, or otherwise grow or transition Flash Ventures’ capacity too slowly, we may not have enough supply of flash-based memory, or the right type of flash-based memory, to meet demand on a timely and cost effective basis, and we may lose opportunities for revenue, gross margin and market share as a result. If our supply is limited, we might make strategic decisions with respect to the allocation of our supply among our products and customers, which could result in less favorable gross margins or damage customer relationships.

Our control over the operations of our business ventures may be limited, and our interests could diverge from our strategic partners’ interests regarding ongoing and future activities. For example, each Flash Ventures entity operates for a defined period of time agreed upon between the joint venture partners. Although we and Kioxia have agreed to extend that period of time for each Flash Ventures entity since the start of Flash Ventures, there is a risk that we and Kioxia will be unable to agree on a further extension of one or more of the Flash Ventures entities in the future. Additionally, under the Flash Ventures agreements, we cannot unilaterally direct most of Flash Ventures’ activities, and we have limited ability to source or fabricate flash outside of Flash Ventures. Flash Ventures requires significant investments by both Kioxia and us for technology transitions and capacity expansions, and our business could be harmed if our technology roadmap and investment plans are not sufficiently aligned with Kioxia’s. Lack of alignment with Kioxia with respect to Flash Ventures could negatively impact our ability to react quickly to changes in the market, or to stay at the forefront of technological advancement. Misalignment could arise due to changes in Kioxia’s strategic priorities, management, ownership or access to capital, which have changed in recent years and could continue to change. Kioxia’s stakeholders may include, or have included in the past, competitors, customers, a private equity firm, government entities or public stockholders. Kioxia’s management changes, ownership and capital structure could lead to delays in decision-making, disputes or changes in strategic direction that could negatively impact the strategic partnership, and therefore us. There may exist conflicts of interest between Kioxia’s stakeholders and Flash Ventures or us with respect to, among other things, protecting and growing Flash Ventures’ business, IP and competitively sensitive confidential information.

Together with Kioxia, we fund a portion of the investments required for Flash Ventures through lease financings. Continued availability of lease financings for Flash Ventures is not guaranteed and could be limited by several factors, including availability of tools qualified for leasing, investor capacity and risk allocation policies, our or Kioxia’s financial performance and changes to our or Kioxia’s business, ownership or corporate structure. To the extent that lease financings are not accessible on favorable terms or at all, more cash would be required to fund investments.

Our strategic relationships are subject to additional risks that could harm our business, including, but not limited to, the following: failure by our strategic partners to comply with applicable laws or employ effective internal controls; difficulties and delays in product and technology development at, ramping production at, and transferring technology to, our strategic partners; declining financial performance of our strategic partners, including failure by our strategic partners to timely fund capital investments with us or otherwise meet their commitments, including the payment of amounts owed to us or third parties when due; losing the rights to, or ability to independently manufacture, certain technology or products being developed or manufactured by strategic partners, including as a result of any of them being acquired by another company, filing for bankruptcy or experiencing financial or other losses; a bankruptcy event involving a strategic partner, which could result in
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structural changes to or termination of the strategic partnership; and changes in tax or regulatory requirements, which may necessitate changes to the agreements governing our strategic partnerships.

We participate in a highly competitive industry that is subject to declining average selling prices (“ASPs”), volatile demand, rapid technological change and industry consolidation, as well as lengthy product qualifications, all of which can negatively impact our business.

Demand for our devices, software and solutions, which we refer to in this Item 1A as our “products”, depends in large part on the demand for systems manufactured by our customers and on storage upgrades to existing systems. The demand for systems has been volatile in the past and often has had an exaggerated effect on the demand for our products in any given period. Demand for and prices of our products are influenced by, among other factors, the actual and projected growth of data to be stored, the balance between supply and demand in the storage market, including the effects of new fab capacity, macroeconomic factors, business conditions, the emergence or growth of new or existing technologies (including AI), technology transitions and other actions taken by us or our competitors. The storage market has recently experienced, and may continue to experience, periods of excess capacity leading to liquidation of excess inventories, inventory write-downs, significant reductions in ASPs and negative impacts on our revenue and gross margins and volatile product life cycles that harm our ability to recover the cost of product development.

Further, our ASPs and gross margins tend to decline when there is a shift in the mix of product sales to lower priced products. We have faced declining gross margins in the past, and may face potential gross margin pressures in the future, resulting from our ASPs declining more rapidly than our cost of revenue. Rapid technological changes often reduce the volume and profitability of sales of existing products and increase the risk of inventory obsolescence and write-downs. Finally, the data storage industry has experienced consolidation over the past several years, which could enhance the resources and lower the cost structure of some competitors. These factors could result in a substantial decrease in our market share and harm our business.

As we compete in new product areas, the overall complexity of our business may increase and may result in increases in R&D expenses and substantial investments in manufacturing capability, technology enhancements and go-to-market capability. We must also qualify our products with customers through potentially lengthy testing processes with uncertain results. Some of our competitors offer products that we do not offer, which may allow them to win sales from us, and some of our customers may be developing storage solutions internally, which may reduce their demand for our products. We expect that competition will continue to be intense, and our competitors may be able to gain a product offering or cost structure advantage over us, which would harm our business. Further, our competitors may utilize pricing strategies, including offering products at prices at or below cost, that we may be unable to competitively match. We may also have difficulty effectively competing with manufacturers benefiting from governmental investments and may be subject to increased complexity and reduced efficiency in our supply chain as a result of governmental efforts to promote domestic semiconductor industries in various jurisdictions.

If we do not properly manage technology transitions and product development and introduction, our competitiveness and operating results may be negatively affected.

The markets for our products continuously undergo technology transitions that can impact our product roadmaps and that we must anticipate in order to adapt our existing products or develop new products effectively. If we fail to adapt to or implement new technologies, if we fail to quickly and cost-effectively develop new products that meet the specifications and requirements intended or desired by our customers or if technology transitions negatively impact our existing product roadmaps, our business may be harmed.

In addition, the success of our technology transitions and product development depends on a number of other factors, including R&D expenses and results; difficulties faced in manufacturing ramp; market acceptance/qualification; effective management of inventory levels in line with anticipated product demand; the vertical integration of some of our products, which may result in more capital expenditures and greater fixed costs than if we were not vertically integrated; our ability to cost effectively respond to customer requests for new products or features (including requests for more efficient and efficiently-produced products with reduced environmental impacts) and software associated with our products; our ability to increase our software development capability; and the effectiveness of our go-to-market capability in selling new products.

Moving to new technologies and products may require us to align to, and build, a new supply base. Our success in new product areas may depend on our ability to enter into favorable supply agreements. In addition, if our customers choose to delay transition to new technologies, if demand for the products that we develop is lower than expected or if the supporting
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technologies to implement these new technologies are not available, we may be unable to achieve the cost structure required to support our profit objectives or may be unable to grow or maintain our market position.

Additionally, new technologies could impact demand for our products in unforeseen or unexpected ways and new products could substitute for our current products and make them obsolete, each of which would harm our business. We also develop products to meet certain industry and technical standards, which may change and cause us to incur substantial costs as we adapt to new standards or invest in different manufacturing processes to remain competitive.

We experience sales seasonality and cyclicality, which could cause our operating results to fluctuate. In addition, accurately forecasting demand has become more difficult, which could harm our business.

Sales of many of our products tend to be seasonal and subject to volatile and irregular supply-demand cycles. Changes in seasonal and cyclical supply and demand patterns have made it, and could continue to make it, more difficult for us to forecast demand. Changes in the product or channel mix of our business can also impact seasonal and cyclical patterns. For example, we often ship a high percentage of our total quarterly sales in the third month of the quarter, which makes it difficult for us to forecast our financial results before the end of each quarter. As a result of the above or other factors, our forecast of financial results for a given quarter may differ materially from our actual financial results.

The variety and volume of products we manufacture are based in part on accurately forecasting market and customer demand for our products, which are influenced by a wide variety of factors. As a result of the number and complexity of these factors, accurately forecasting demand has been and continues to be increasingly difficult for us, our customers and our suppliers. Further, for many of our OEM customers utilizing just-in-time inventory, we do not generally require firm order commitments and instead receive a periodic forecast of requirements, which may prove to be inaccurate. In addition, because our products are designed to be largely interchangeable with competitors’ products, our demand forecasts may be impacted significantly by the strategic actions of our competitors. As forecasting demand becomes more difficult, the risk that our forecasts are not in line with demand increases. This has caused, and may in the future cause, our forecasts to exceed actual market demand, resulting in periods of product oversupply, excess inventory, underutilization of manufacturing capacity and price decreases, which has impacted and could further impact our sales, ASPs and gross margin or require us to incur additional inventory write-downs or additional charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead, thereby negatively affecting our operating results and our financial condition. For example, in 2024 and 2023, we incurred $407 million and $497 million of charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs as a result of the reduced utilization of our manufacturing capacity, respectively. Additionally, in 2024, we incurred $108 million of charges to write-down our inventory as a result of decreases in market pricing. These charges were attributable to a significant imbalance of supply and demand and our actions taken in response thereto. If market demand increases significantly beyond our forecasts or beyond our ability to add manufacturing capacity, then we may not be able to satisfy customer product needs, possibly resulting in a loss of market share if our competitors are able to meet customer demands. In addition, some of our components have long lead-times, requiring us to place orders several months in advance of anticipated demand. Such long lead-times increase the risk of excess inventory, potentially resulting in inventory write-downs, or loss of sales in the event our forecasts vary substantially from actual demand.

Failure to successfully execute on strategic initiatives including acquisitions, divestitures or cost saving measures may negatively impact our future results.

We have made and expect to continue to make acquisitions and divestitures, and engage in cost saving measures. In order to successfully execute on strategic initiatives, we must continue to identify and successfully complete attractive transactions, some of which may be large and complex, and manage post-closing issues such as integration of the acquired company or employees and integration of processes and systems. We may not be able to continue to identify or complete appealing acquisition or investment opportunities given the intense competition for these transactions. Even if we identify and complete suitable corporate transactions, we may not be able to successfully address any integration challenges in a timely manner, or at all. There have been and may continue to be difficulties with implementing new systems and processes or with integrating systems and processes of companies with complex operations, which may result in inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies and may increase our vulnerability to cybersecurity attacks or the risk that our internal controls are found to be ineffective.

Failing to successfully integrate or realign our business to take advantage of efficiencies or reduce redundancies of an acquisition or divestiture may result in not realizing all or any of the anticipated benefits of the transaction. In addition, failing to achieve the financial model projections for an acquisition or changes in technology development and related roadmaps following an acquisition may result in the incurrence of impairment charges (including goodwill impairments or other asset write-downs) and other expenses, both of which could negatively impact our results of operations or financial condition.
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Acquisitions and investments may also result in the issuance of equity securities that may be dilutive to our stockholders as well as earn-out or other contingent consideration payments and the issuance of additional indebtedness that would put additional pressure on liquidity. Furthermore, we may agree to provide continuing service obligations or enter into other agreements in order to obtain certain regulatory approvals of our corporate transactions, and failure to satisfy these additional obligations could result in our failing to obtain regulatory approvals or the imposition of additional obligations on us, any of which could negatively affect our business. In addition, new legislation or additional regulations may affect or impair our ability to invest with or in certain other countries or require us to obtain regulatory approvals to do so, including investments in joint ventures, minority investments and outbound technology transfers to certain countries.

Cost saving measures, restructurings and divestitures may result in workforce reduction and consolidation of our manufacturing or other facilities. As a result of these actions, we may experience a loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge, disruptions to our operations and inefficiency during transitional periods. These actions could also impact employee retention. In addition, we cannot be sure that these actions will be as successful in reducing our overall expenses as we expect, that additional costs will not offset any such reductions or consolidations or that we do not forego future business opportunities as a result of these actions.

Acquisitions and alliance activities inherently involve other risks as well, including those associated with disruption to our business and the continued successful execution of our company strategy, goals and responsibilities; assimilation and integration of different business operations, corporate cultures, personnel, infrastructures and technologies or solutions acquired or licensed, while maintaining quality, and designing and implementing appropriate risk management measures; and the possibility of conflict with joint venture or alliance partners regarding strategic direction, prioritization of objectives and goals, governance matters or operations.

Loss of revenue from a key customer, or consolidation among our customer base, could harm our operating results.

Historically, nearly one half of our total revenue came from sales to our top 10 customers. These customers have a variety of suppliers to choose from and therefore can make substantial demands on us, including demands on product pricing, contractual terms and the environmental impact and attributes of our products, often resulting in the allocation of risk or increased costs to us as the supplier. Our ability to maintain strong relationships with our principal customers is essential to our future performance. We have experienced and may in the future experience events such as the loss of a key customer, prohibition or restriction of sales to a key customer by law, regulation or other government action, reductions in sales to or orders by a key customer, customer requirements to reduce our prices before we are able to reduce costs or the acquisition of a key customer by one of our competitors. These events have impacted, and may in the future impact, our operating results and financial condition. Further, government authorities may implement laws or regulations or take other actions that could result in significant changes to the business or operating models of our customers. Such changes could negatively impact our operating results.

Additionally, if there is consolidation among our customer base, our customers may be able to command increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could negatively impact our profitability. Consolidation among our customer base may also lead to reduced demand for our products, increased customer pressure on our prices, replacement of our products by the combined entity with those of our competitors and cancellations of orders, each of which could harm our operating results.

Also, the storage ecosystem is constantly evolving, and our traditional customer base is changing. Fewer companies now hold greater market share for certain applications and services, such as cloud storage and computing platforms, mobile, social media, shopping and streaming media. As a result, the competitive landscape is changing, giving these companies increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could negatively impact our profitability. In addition, the changes in our evolving customer base create new selling and distribution patterns to which we must adapt. To remain competitive, we must respond to these changes by ensuring we have proper scale in this evolving market, as well as offer products that meet the technological requirements of this customer base at competitive pricing points. To the extent we are not successful in adequately responding to these changes, our operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

Sales in the distribution channel and to the retail market are important to our business, and if we fail to respond to demand changes within these markets, or maintain and grow our applicable market share, our business could suffer.

Our distribution customers typically sell to small computer manufacturers, dealers, systems integrators and other resellers. We face significant competition in this channel as a result of limited product qualification programs and a significant focus on price and availability of product. As a result of the shift to mobile devices, more computing devices are being delivered to the
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market as complete systems, which could weaken the distribution market. If we fail to respond to changes in demand in the distribution market, our business could suffer. Additionally, if the distribution market weakens as a result of technology transitions or a significant change in consumer buying preference, or if we experience significant price declines due to demand changes in the distribution channel, our operating results would be negatively impacted. Negative changes in the creditworthiness or the ability to access credit, or the bankruptcy or shutdown of any of our significant retail or distribution partners would harm our revenue and our ability to collect outstanding receivable balances.

A significant portion of our sales is also made through retailers. Our success in the retail market depends in large part on our ability to maintain our brand image and corporate reputation and to expand into and gain market acceptance of our products in multiple retail market channels. Particularly in the retail market, negative publicity, whether or not justified, or allegations of product or service quality issues, even if false or unfounded, could damage our reputation and cause our customers to choose products offered by our competitors. Further, changes to the retail environment, such as store closures caused by macroeconomic conditions or changing customer preferences, may reduce the demand for our products. If customers no longer maintain a preference for our product brands or if our retailers are not successful in selling our products, our operating results may be negatively impacted.

FINANCIAL RISKS

Our level of debt may negatively impact our liquidity, restrict our operations and ability to respond to business opportunities, and increase our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions.

We utilize debt financing in our capital structure and may incur additional debt, including under our revolving credit facility subject to customary conditions in our loan agreements. Our level of debt could have significant consequences, including limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general corporate purposes; requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows to be dedicated to debt service payments instead of other purposes; imposing financial and other restrictive covenants on our operations, including minimum liquidity requirements and limitations on our ability to (i) declare or pay dividends or repurchase shares of our common stock; (ii) purchase assets, make investments, complete acquisitions, consolidate or merge with or into, or sell all or substantially all of our assets to, another person; (iii) enter into sale/leaseback transactions or certain transactions with affiliates; (iv) incur additional indebtedness; and (v) incur liens, making us more vulnerable to economic downturns and limiting our ability to withstand competitive pressures or take advantage of new opportunities to grow our business.

Our ability to meet our debt service obligations, comply with our debt covenants and deleverage depends on our cash flows and financial performance, which are affected by financial, business, economic and other factors. The rate at which we will be able to or choose to deleverage is uncertain. Failure to meet our debt service obligations or comply with our debt covenants could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. We may be unable to cure, or obtain a waiver of, an event of default or otherwise amend our debt agreements to prevent an event of default thereunder on terms acceptable to us or at all. In that event, the debt holders could accelerate the related debt, which may result in the cross-acceleration or cross-default of other debt, leases or other obligations. We also utilize convertible debt in our capital structure and as of June 28, 2024, $1.6 billion principal amount of our convertible notes were convertible at the option of the holder. As such, these convertible notes were classified as current debt as of that date. In the event that holders of our convertible debt exercise conversion rights, we will be required to settle the principal amount of any converted notes in cash. If we do not have sufficient funds available to repay indebtedness when due, whether at maturity, by acceleration or upon conversion, we may be required to sell important strategic assets; refinance our existing debt; incur additional debt or issue common stock or other equity securities, which we may not be able to do on terms acceptable to us, in amounts sufficient to meet our needs or at all. Our inability to service our debt obligations or refinance our debt could harm our business. Further, if we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our secured indebtedness, the holder of such debt could proceed against the collateral securing the indebtedness. Refinancing our indebtedness may also require us to expense previous debt issuance costs or to incur new debt issuance costs.

As our bank debt contains a variable interest rate component based on our corporate credit ratings, a decline in our ratings has in the past resulted in, and could in the future result in, increased interest rates and debt service obligations. In addition, our ratings impact the cost and availability of future borrowings and, accordingly, our cost of capital. Our ratings reflect the opinions of the ratings agencies as to our financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet our debt obligations. There can be no assurance that we will achieve a particular rating or maintain a particular rating in the future.

We also guarantee a significant amount of lease obligations of Flash Ventures owed to third parties. Flash Ventures sells to and leases back a portion of its equipment from a consortium of financial institutions. Most of the lease obligations are guaranteed 50% by us and 50% by Kioxia. Some of the lease obligations are guaranteed in full by us. The leases are subject to
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customary covenants and cancellation events that relate to Flash Ventures and each of the guarantors. If a cancellation event were to occur, Flash Ventures would be required to negotiate a resolution with the other parties to the lease transactions to avoid cancellation and acceleration of the lease obligations. Such resolution could include, among other things, supplementary security to be supplied by us, increased interest rates or waiver fees. If a resolution is not reached, we may be required to pay all of the outstanding lease obligations covered by our guarantees, which would significantly reduce our cash position and may force us to seek additional financing, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

We may from time to time seek to further refinance our substantial indebtedness by issuing additional shares of common stock or other securities that are convertible into common stock or grant the holder the right to purchase common stock, each of which may dilute our existing stockholders, reduce the value of our common stock, or both.

Tax matters may materially affect our financial position and results of operations.

Changes in tax laws in the United States, the European Union and around the globe have impacted and will continue to impact our effective worldwide tax rate, which may materially affect our financial position and results of operations. Further, the majority of countries in the G20 and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) have agreed to adopt a two-pillar approach to taxation, which includes the implementation of a global corporate minimum tax rate of 15%, which, when effective, could materially increase our tax obligations in these countries. Due to the large scale of our U.S. and international business activities, many of these enacted and proposed changes to the taxation of our activities, including cash movements, could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our business. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the option to deduct research and development expenditures in the year incurred, requiring amortization in accordance with IRC Section 174. Depending on our operating results, this requirement could materially increase our effective tax rate and reduce our operating cash flows. Additionally, portions of our operations are subject to a reduced tax rate or are free of tax under various tax holidays that expire in whole or in part from time to time, or may be terminated if certain conditions are not met. Although many of these holidays may be extended when certain conditions are met, we may not be able to meet such conditions. If the tax holidays are not extended, or if we fail to satisfy the conditions of the reduced tax rate, then our effective tax rate could increase in the future. Our effective tax rate may be negatively impacted if we are unable to realize deferred tax assets. We regularly review our deferred tax assets for recoverability and establish a valuation allowance if it is more likely than not that some portion or all of a deferred tax asset will not be realized. If we are unable to generate sufficient future taxable income or if there is a change to the time period within which the underlying temporary differences become taxable or deductible, we could be required to increase our valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets, which could result in a material increase in our effective tax rate.

Our determination of our tax liability in the U.S. and other jurisdictions is subject to review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities. For example, as disclosed in Part I, Item 1, Note 13, Income Tax Expense, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are under examination by the Internal Revenue Service for certain fiscal years. Although we believe our tax positions are properly supported, the final timing and resolution of any tax examinations are subject to significant uncertainty and could result in litigation or the payment of significant amounts to the applicable tax authority in order to resolve examination of our tax positions, which could result in an increase of our current estimate of unrecognized tax benefits and may harm our business.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates as a result of our international operations may negatively affect our operating results.

Because we manufacture and sell our products abroad, our revenue, cost of revenue, margins, operating costs and cash flows are impacted by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. If the U.S. dollar exhibits sustained weakness against most foreign currencies, the U.S. dollar equivalents of unhedged manufacturing costs could increase because a significant portion of our production costs are foreign-currency denominated. Conversely, there would not be an offsetting impact to revenues since revenues are substantially U.S. dollar denominated. Additionally, we negotiate and procure some of our component requirements in U.S. dollars from non-U.S. based vendors. If the U.S. dollar weakens against other foreign currencies, some of our component suppliers may increase the price they charge for their components in order to maintain an equivalent profit margin. In addition, our purchases of flash-based memory from Flash Ventures and our investment in Flash Ventures are denominated in Japanese yen. If the Japanese yen appreciates against the U.S. dollar, our cost of purchasing flash-based memory wafers and the cost to us of future capital funding of Flash Ventures would increase. When such events occur, they have had, and may in the future have, a negative impact on our business.

Prices for our products are substantially U.S. dollar denominated, even when sold to customers that are located outside the U.S. Therefore, as a substantial portion of our sales are from countries outside the U.S., fluctuations in currency exchanges
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rates, most notably the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other foreign currencies, contribute to variations in sales of products in impacted jurisdictions and could negatively impact demand and revenue growth. In addition, currency variations may adversely affect, and from time to time have adversely affected, margins on sales of our products in countries outside the U.S.

We attempt to manage the impact of foreign currency exchange rate changes by, among other things, entering into short-term foreign exchange contracts. However, these contracts may not cover our full exposure, and can be canceled by the counterparty if currency controls are put in place. Thus, our decisions and hedging strategy with respect to currency risks may not be successful and may actually harm our operating results. Further, the ability to enter into foreign exchange contracts with financial institutions is based upon our available credit from such institutions and compliance with covenants and other restrictions. Operating losses, third party downgrades of our credit rating or instability in the worldwide financial markets could impact our ability to effectively manage our foreign currency exchange rate risk. Hedging also exposes us to the credit risk of our counterparty financial institutions.

Increases in our customers’ credit risk could result in credit losses and term extensions under existing contracts with customers with credit losses could result in an increase in our operating costs.

Some of our OEM customers have adopted a subcontractor model that requires us to contract directly with companies, such as ODMs, that provide manufacturing and fulfillment services to our OEM customers. Because these subcontractors are generally not as well capitalized as our direct OEM customers, this subcontractor model exposes us to increased credit risks. Our agreements with our OEM customers may not permit us to increase our product prices to alleviate this increased credit risk. Additionally, as we attempt to expand our OEM and distribution channel sales into emerging economies, the customers with the most success in these regions may have relatively short operating histories, making it more difficult for us to accurately assess the associated credit risks. Our customers’ credit risk may also be exacerbated by an economic downturn or other adverse global or regional economic conditions. Any credit losses we may suffer as a result of these increased risks, or as a result of credit losses from any significant customer, especially in situations where there are term extensions under existing contracts with such customers, would increase our operating costs, which may negatively impact our operating results.

LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE RISKS

We are subject to laws, rules and regulations relating to the collection, use, sharing and security of data, including personal data, and our failure to comply with these laws, rules and regulations could subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others and cause us to incur penalties, significant legal liability, or loss of customers, loss of revenue and reputational harm.

We are subject to laws, rules and regulations relating to the collection, use, security and privacy of third-party data, including data that relates to or identifies an individual person. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and obligations to third parties related to privacy, data protection and security. In many cases, these requirements apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between our information systems and our subsidiaries, and among us, our subsidiaries and other parties with which we have commercial relations. Our possession and use of third-party data, including personal data and employee data in conducting our business, subjects us to legal and regulatory obligations that require us to notify vendors, customers or employees or other parties with which we have commercial relations of a data security breach and to respond to regulatory inquiries and to enforcement proceedings. Managing these notifications, especially in large volumes, can lead to significant expenses, even with cybersecurity insurance coverage. Laws and regulations relating to the collection, use, security and privacy of third-party data change over time and new laws and regulations become effective from time to time. We are subject to notice and privacy statement requirements, as well as obligations to respond to requests to know and access personal information, correct personal information, delete personal information and say no to the sale of personal information. Global privacy and data protection legislation, enforcement and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and evolving, and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. We may also be subject to restrictions on cross-border data transfers and requirements for localized storage of data that could increase our compliance costs and risks and affect the ability of our global operations to coordinate activities and respond to customers and individuals. Compliance requirements or even our inadvertent failure to comply with applicable laws may cause us to incur substantial costs, subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others, and cause us to incur penalties or other significant legal liability or lead us to change our business practices.

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We are and may in the future be subject to state, federal and international legal and regulatory requirements, such as environmental, labor, health and safety, trade and public-company reporting and disclosure regulations, customers’ standards of corporate citizenship and industry and coalition standards, such as those established by the Responsible Business Alliance (“RBA”), and compliance with those regulations and requirements could cause an increase in our operating costs and failure to comply may harm our business.

We are subject to, and may become subject to, additional, state, federal and international laws and regulations governing our environmental, labor, trade, health and safety practices and public-company reporting and disclosures requirements. These laws and regulations, particularly those applicable to our international operations, are or may be complex, extensive and subject to change. We will need to ensure that we and our suppliers, customers and partners timely comply with such laws and regulations, which may result in an increase in our operating costs. Legislation has been, and may in the future be, enacted in locations where we manufacture or sell our products, which could impair our ability to conduct business in certain jurisdictions or with certain customers and harm our operating results. In addition, climate change and financial reform legislation is a significant topic of discussion and has generated and may continue to generate federal, international or other regulatory responses in the near future, which could substantially increase the complexity of our public-company reporting and disclosure requirements and our compliance and operating costs. If we or our suppliers, customers or partners fail to timely comply with applicable legislation, certain customers may refuse to purchase our products or we may face increased operating costs as a result of taxes, fines or penalties, or legal liability and reputational damage, which could harm our business.

In connection with our compliance with environmental laws and regulations, as well as our compliance with industry and coalition environmental initiatives, such as those established by the RBA, the standards of business conduct required by some of our customers, and our commitment to sound corporate citizenship in all aspects of our business, we could incur substantial compliance and operating costs and be subject to disruptions to our operations and logistics. In addition, if we or our suppliers, customers or partners were found to be in violation of these laws or noncompliant with these initiatives or standards of conduct, we could be subject to governmental fines, liability to our customers and damage to our reputation and corporate brand, which could cause our financial condition and operating results to suffer.

Our aspirations, disclosures and actions related to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters expose us to risks that could adversely affect our reputation and performance.

There is an increased focus from investors, customers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders concerning ESG matters, and we announce initiatives and goals related to ESG matters from time to time, including renewable energy and net zero emissions commitments. These statements reflect our current plans and aspirations and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them. Our ability to achieve any ESG objective is subject to numerous risks, many of which are outside of our control, including the availability and cost of alternative energy sources; the evolving regulatory and reporting requirements affecting ESG practices and disclosures; the locations and usage of our products and the implications on their greenhouse gas emissions; and the successful execution of our strategy. Our failure to accomplish or accurately track and report on these goals on a timely basis, or at all, and the potential added costs involved, could adversely affect our reputation; financial performance and growth; our ability to attract or retain talent; and our attractiveness as a business partner or supplier, and could expose us to increased litigation risk, as well as increased scrutiny from the investment community and enforcement authorities.

We and certain of our officers are and may continue to be involved in litigation, investigations and governmental proceedings, which may be costly, may divert the efforts of our key personnel and could result in adverse court rulings, fines or penalties, which could materially harm our business.

We are and may continue to be involved in litigation, including antitrust and commercial matters, putative securities class action suits and other actions. We are the plaintiff in some of these actions and the defendant in others. Some of the actions seek injunctive relief, including injunctions against the sale of our products, and substantial monetary damages, which if granted or awarded, could materially harm our business. We have in the past been and may in the future be the subject of inquiries, requests for information, investigations and actions by government and regulatory agencies regarding our businesses. Any such matters could result in material adverse consequences to our results of operations, financial condition or ability to conduct our business, including fines, penalties or restrictions on our business activities.

Litigation is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. In the event of an adverse outcome in any litigation, investigation or governmental proceeding, we could be required to pay substantial damages, fines or penalties and cease certain practices or activities, including the manufacture, use and sale of products. With or without merit, such matters may be complex, may extend for a protracted period of time, may be very expensive and the expense may be unpredictable. Litigation initiated by us could also result in counter-claims against us,
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which could increase the costs associated with the litigation and result in our payment of damages or other judgments against us. In addition, litigation, investigations or governmental proceedings and any related publicity may divert the efforts and attention of some of our key personnel, affect demand for our products and harm the market prices of our securities.

We may be obligated to indemnify our current or former directors or employees, or former directors or employees of companies that we have acquired, in connection with litigation, investigations or governmental proceedings. These liabilities could be substantial and may include, among other things: the costs of defending lawsuits against these individuals; the cost of defending shareholder derivative suits; the cost of governmental, law enforcement or regulatory investigations or proceedings; civil or criminal fines and penalties; legal and other expenses; and expenses associated with the remedial measures, if any, which may be imposed.

The nature of our industry and its reliance on IP and other proprietary information subjects us and our suppliers, customers and partners to the risk of significant litigation.

The data storage industry has been characterized by significant litigation. This includes litigation relating to patent and other IP rights, product liability claims and other types of litigation. We are frequently involved in disputes regarding patent and other IP rights, and we and our customers have in the past received, and we and our customers may in the future receive, communications from third parties asserting that certain of our products, processes or technologies infringe upon their patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights or other IP rights. Even if we believe that such claims are without merit, they may be time-consuming and costly to defend against and may divert management’s attention and resources away from our business. We may also receive claims of potential infringement if we attempt to license IP to others. IP risks increase when we enter into new markets where we have little or no IP protection as a deterrent against litigation. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of IP litigation increase the IP risks we face. Litigation can be expensive, lengthy and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of litigation are inherently uncertain and have resulted in, and may in the future result in, adverse rulings or decisions. We may be subject to injunctions, enter into settlements or be subject to judgments that may harm our business.

If we incorporate third-party technology into our products or if claims or actions are asserted against us for alleged infringement of the IP of others, we may be required to obtain a license or cross-license, modify our existing technology or design a new non-infringing technology. Such licenses or design modifications can be extremely costly. We evaluate notices of alleged patent infringement and notices of patents from patent holders that we receive from time to time. We may decide to settle a claim or action against us, which settlement could be costly. We may also be liable for past infringement. If there is an adverse ruling against us in an infringement lawsuit, an injunction could be issued barring production or sale of any infringing product. It could also result in a damage award equal to a reasonable royalty or lost profits or, if there is a finding of willful infringement, treble damages. Any of these results would increase our costs and harm our operating results. In addition, our suppliers, customers and partners are subject to similar risks of litigation, and a material, adverse ruling against a supplier, customer or partner could negatively impact our business.

Moreover, from time to time, we agree to indemnify certain of our suppliers and customers for alleged IP infringement. The scope of such indemnity varies but may include indemnification for direct and consequential damages and expenses, including attorneys’ fees. We may be engaged in litigation as a result of these indemnification obligations. Third party claims for patent infringement are excluded from coverage under our insurance policies. A future obligation to indemnify our customers or suppliers may harm our business.

Our reliance on IP and other proprietary information subjects us to the risk that these key components of our business could be copied by competitors.

Our success depends, in significant part, on the proprietary nature of our technology, including non-patentable IP such as our process technology. If we fail to protect our technology, IP or contract rights, our customers and others may seek to use our technology and IP without the payment of license fees and royalties, which could weaken our competitive position, reduce our operating results and increase the likelihood of costly litigation. We primarily rely on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as non-disclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our proprietary technologies and processes. There can be no assurance that our existing patents will continue to be held valid, if challenged, or that they will have sufficient scope or strength to protect us. It is also possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose, illegally or otherwise, our proprietary technologies and processes, despite our efforts to protect our proprietary technologies and processes. If a competitor is able to reproduce or otherwise capitalize on our technology despite the safeguards we have in place, it may be difficult, expensive or impossible for us to obtain necessary legal protection. There are entities whom we believe may infringe our IP. Enforcement of our rights often requires litigation. If we bring a patent infringement
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action and are not successful, our competitors may be able to use similar technology to compete with us. Moreover, the defendant in such an action may successfully countersue us for infringement of their patents or assert a counterclaim that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. Also, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our IP to the same extent as do U.S. laws. In addition to patent protection of IP rights, we consider elements of our product designs and processes to be proprietary and confidential. We rely upon employee, consultant and vendor non-disclosure agreements and contractual provisions and a system of internal safeguards to protect our proprietary information. However, we cannot be certain that these contracts and safeguards have not been and will not be breached, that we will be able to timely detect unauthorized use or transfer of our technology and IP, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach or that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. Any of our registered or unregistered IP rights may be challenged or exploited by others in the industry, which could harm our operating results.

Maintaining and strengthening our brands are important to maintaining and expanding our business, as well as to our ability to enter into new markets for our technologies, products and services. The success of our brands depends in part on the positive image that consumers have of our brands. We believe the popularity of our brands makes them a target of counterfeiting or imitation, with third parties attempting to pass off counterfeit products as our products. Any occurrence of counterfeiting, imitation or confusion with our brands could negatively affect our reputation and impair the value of our brands, which in turn could negatively impact sales and pricing of our branded products, our share and our gross margin, as well as increase our administrative costs related to brand protection and counterfeit detection and prosecution. Additionally, our ability to prevent unauthorized uses of our brands and technologies would be negatively impacted if our trademark registrations were successfully challenged or overturned in the jurisdictions where we do business. We also have trademark applications pending in a number of jurisdictions that may not ultimately be granted, or if granted, may be challenged or invalidated, in which case we would be unable to prevent unauthorized use of our brands and logos in such jurisdictions. We have not filed trademark registrations in all jurisdictions where our brands or logos may be used.

The exclusive forum provisions in our Bylaws could limit our stockholders' ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or other employees.

Our Bylaws provide that, unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or the federal district court in the State of Delaware if the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction) is the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action brought on behalf of the Company, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director, officer or other employee of the Company or its stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine (the “Delaware Exclusive Forum Provision”). Our Bylaws further provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Federal Forum Provision”).

The Delaware Exclusive Forum Provision is intended to apply to claims arising under Delaware state law and would not apply to claims brought pursuant to the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, the Federal Forum Provision is intended to apply to claims arising under the Securities Act and would not apply to claims brought pursuant to the Exchange Act. The exclusive forum provisions in the Company’s Bylaws will not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder and, accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder must be brought in federal courts. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

The exclusive forum provisions in the Company’s Bylaws may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with the company or its directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against the Company and its directors, officers and other employees. In addition, stockholders who do bring a claim in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware pursuant to the Delaware Exclusive Forum Provision could face additional litigation costs in pursuing any such claim, particularly if they do not reside in or near Delaware. The court in the designated forum under our exclusive forum provisions may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments or results may be more favorable to the Company than to our stockholders. Further, the enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find any of our exclusive forum provisions to be inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings. If a court were to find all or any part of our exclusive forum provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we might incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.
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Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 1C.    Cybersecurity

Risk Management and Strategy

At Western Digital, our management team is charged with managing risk and bringing to our Board of Directors’ attention all material risk exposures to our company. Our enterprise risk management (“ERM”) process is designed to facilitate the identification, assessment, management, reporting and monitoring of material risks our company may face over the short-term and long-term and assure regular communication with our Board of Directors and its committees regarding these risks. Through our ERM process, we have determined that the compromise, damage or interruption of our technology infrastructure, information systems or products by cybersecurity incidents is a key risk to our company that may have a material negative impact on our business. To help mitigate the potential impact of cybersecurity incidents on our business and protect against cybersecurity threats, we have established organizational structures, procedural measures and response plans that define roles and responsibilities related to cybersecurity risk management.

Western Digital’s Information Security organization addresses cybersecurity risks with a broad spectrum of technologies, controls, and processes that focus on mitigating these risks. Our cybersecurity strategy is designed to be dynamic and adaptive to combat the rapidly-evolving cybersecurity threat landscape and is influenced by commonly leveraged frameworks such as the NIST-CSF (National Institute of Standard and Technologies – CyberSecurity Framework). Our program includes, but is not limited to, advanced systems and network security protocols, electronic communications protections, vulnerability management programs, least-privilege access controls, third-party risk management procedures, workforce education and training exercises, and compliance programs.

Our dedicated 24x7 Security Operations Center incorporates specialized systems and processes for handling security incidents into its regular work and operates a robust, modern security infrastructure with appropriate security sensors and event monitoring capabilities. Upon detection of a cybersecurity incident, the Security Operations Center determines the severity of the incident in accordance with a pre-established incident severity matrix, initiates the appropriate notification and escalation protocols and begins triage. Predefined severity tiers serve as a guide to match our response to each incident’s determined severity or risk level.

Additionally, we have established a Cyber Incident Response Plan that follows the structure of the Incident Handling Guide published by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (SP 800-61r2) and that serves as an operational guide for handling cybersecurity incidents at Western Digital. Our Cyber Incident Response Plan provides procedural and strategic guidance that is designed to be flexible enough to apply to a variety of different incidents, but also specific enough to provide guidelines for incident prevention, detection, analysis, escalation and notification, and containment, eradication and recovery.

As part of our ongoing information security program, Western Digital utilizes periodic independent third-party experts to conduct assessments of our program’s effectiveness. These experts are also leveraged to design and orchestrate tabletop exercises where multiple business functions and leadership levels must navigate complex incident scenarios to help determine our level of preparedness for various cybersecurity incidents.

As part of our business operations, Western Digital engages with a number of third parties, including but not limited to, online software service providers, vendors, consultants, and partners. Each of these third-parties must be cleared through a formal cybersecurity risk assessment process before being allowed to integrate with Western Digital’s information systems, access confidential data, or provide electronic services to members of our workforce. Additionally, further scrutiny is applied during the post-assessment onboarding process in order to fine-tune access rights to limit privileges to those necessary to enable the related service, resulting in a least-privilege level of access.

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Western Digital has in the past experienced cybersecurity incidents of varying degrees involving our technology infrastructure and information systems, including incidents in which unauthorized parties have obtained access to our information systems and networks. While these incidents have at times resulted in some disruptions to our business operations, as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we do not believe that known risks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incident, have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. However, we can give no assurance that we have detected or protected against all such cybersecurity incidents or threats or that we will not experience such an incident in the future. Further details about the cybersecurity risks we face are described under “The compromise, damage or interruption of our technology infrastructure, information systems or products by cybersecurity incidents, data security breaches, other security problems, design defects, information system failures or other events could have a material negative impact on our business” in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Governance

Western Digital has implemented a governance framework related to cybersecurity that includes operational risk-mitigation practices and Board-level cybersecurity risk oversight.

Our management team is charged with managing cybersecurity risk and identifying material cybersecurity risk exposures to our company and carries out this function primarily through our Information Security organization, which is led by our Chief Information Security Officer who has a master’s degree in computer science, over a decade of information security leadership, and thirty years of combined IT leadership experience. Additionally, our Cyber Incident Response Plan discussed above calls for the establishment of a management Impact Assessment Committee, which consists of key leadership representatives from the organization and is convened on an ad hoc basis to assess the detailed business impact of a cybersecurity incident. The Impact Assessment Committee is led by our Chief Information Security Officer and includes key representatives from the Company’s functional groups, including human resources, ethics and compliance, labor, privacy, internal audit, finance, communications, legal, risk and accounting. The Impact Assessment Committee receives updates and communications from the Security Operations Center on a fixed cadence determined by incident severity and follows our pre-established escalation framework to communicate with and include executive leadership, outside counsel and the Board of Directors, as appropriate. The Impact Assessment Committee works with the Company’s internal and external legal counsel to determine and facilitate appropriate communications with the Board of Directors.

Our Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the cybersecurity risk management process and exercises this risk oversight through both our full Board of Directors and its Audit Committee. Our Board of Directors has delegated to the Audit Committee the responsibility to oversee risks related to cybersecurity threats, and our Audit Committee Charter requires the Audit Committee to review and discuss with management the Company’s policies with respect to risk assessment and enterprise risk management and to review the risk exposure of the Company related to the Committee’s areas of responsibility, including with respect to cybersecurity. In carrying out this role, the Audit Committee meets with our Chief Information Security Officer regularly and receives at least quarterly reports on cybersecurity matters.

Additionally, at least annually, our Chief Audit Executive, who manages the day-to-day activities of our ERM program, reports to our Board of Directors on enterprise risk assessment under our ERM program, providing updates on key risks, status of mitigation efforts and residual risk trends, including an analysis of cybersecurity risks. Also at least annually, our Chief Information Security Officer reports to the full Board of Directors on cybersecurity matters related to or impacting our company and our business.
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Item 2.    Properties

Our principal executive offices are located in San Jose, California. Our leased facilities have contracts expiring at various times through 2039. Our principal manufacturing, R&D, marketing and administrative facilities as of June 28, 2024 were as follows:
LocationBuildings Owned or LeasedApproximate Square FootageDescription
United States
California
FremontLeased295,000 HDD manufacturing of head wafers and R&D
IrvineLeased408,000 HDD R&D, administrative, marketing and sales
Milpitas
Leased
578,000 Flash R&D, marketing and sales, and administrative
San JoseOwned2,205,000 Manufacturing of head wafers, head, media and product development, R&D for Flash and HDD, administrative, marketing and sales
Colorado
LongmontLeased62,000 Flash R&D
Colorado SpringsLeased54,000 HDD R&D
Minnesota
RochesterLeased156,000 Flash and HDD product development
Asia
China
ShanghaiOwned917,000 Flash assembly and test of SSD
ShenzhenOwned and Leased614,000 
HDD manufacturing of media and sales
Japan
FujisawaOwned661,000 HDD product development
Malaysia
JohorOwned277,000 HDD manufacturing of substrates
Kuala LumpurOwned145,000 
HDD R&D and administrative
KuchingOwned529,000 HDD manufacturing and development of substrates
PenangOwned2,420,000 Assembly and test of SSD, manufacturing of media, and R&D for Flash and HDD
Philippines
LagunaOwned632,000 HDD manufacturing of HGAs and slider fabrication
Thailand
Bang Pa-InOwned and Leased1,595,000 HDD slider fabrication, manufacturing of HDDs and HGAs, and R&D
PrachinburiOwned1,568,000 HDD manufacturing
India
BangaloreOwned and Leased1,317,000 Flash R&D and administrative
Middle East
Israel
Kfar SabaOwned167,000 Flash R&D
TefenOwned72,000 Flash R&D

We also lease office space in various other locations worldwide primarily for R&D, sales, operations, manufacturing, administration and technical support. During the year ended June 28, 2024, we completed a sale and leaseback of our facility in Milpitas, California. We believe our present facilities are adequate for our current needs. We continuously update our facilities from time to time to meet technological and market requirements.

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Substantially all of our flash-based memory wafers are manufactured by Kioxia in purpose-built, wafer fabrication facilities located in Yokkaichi and Kitakami, Japan.
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Item 3.    Legal Proceedings

See Part II, Item 8, Note 17, Legal Proceedings and Note 13, Income Tax Expense of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for disclosures regarding certain legal proceedings and the status of statutory notices of deficiency issued by the IRS with regards to tax years 2008 through 2015, respectively, which are incorporated by reference herein.

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5.    Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information for Common Stock

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “WDC”. The approximate number of holders of record of our common stock as of August 7, 2024 was 802.

Dividends

In April 2020, we suspended our quarterly cash dividend. For more information about our dividends, see Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Short- and Long-term Liquidity.

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return of our common stock with the cumulative total return of the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Hardware & Equipment Index for the five years ended June 28, 2024. The graph assumes that $100 was invested in our common stock at the close of market on June 28, 2019 and that all dividends were reinvested. Stockholder returns over the indicated period should not be considered indicative of future stockholder returns.

TOTAL RETURN TO STOCKHOLDERS
(Assumes $100 investment at market close on June 28, 2019)
1064
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Total Return Analysis
June 28,
2019		July 3,
2020		July 2,
2021		July 1,
2022		June 30,
2023		June 28,
2024
Western Digital Corporation$100.00 $89.25 $147.66 $91.31 $79.77 $159.35 
S&P 500 Index$100.00 $107.51 $151.36 $135.29 $161.80 $201.53 
Dow Jones U.S. Technology Hardware & Equipment Index$100.00 $145.46 $224.80 $200.70 $300.76 $457.57 

The stock performance graph shall not be deemed soliciting material or to be filed with the SEC or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, nor shall it be incorporated by reference into any past or future filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent we specifically request that it be treated as soliciting material or specifically incorporate it by reference into a filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Item 6.    [Reserved]


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Item 7.     Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

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

Our Company

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

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

Our fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest to June 30 and typically consists of 52 weeks. Approximately every five to six years, we report a 53-week fiscal year to align the fiscal year with the foregoing policy. Fiscal years 2024, 2023, and 2022, which ended on June 28, 2024, June 30, 2023, and July 1, 2022, respectively, each comprised 52 weeks, with all quarters presented consisting of 13 weeks.

Key Developments

Separation of Business Units

On October 30, 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors had completed its strategic review of our business and, after evaluating a comprehensive range of alternatives, authorized us to pursue a plan to separate our HDD and Flash business units to create two independent, public companies. We believe the separation will better position each business unit to execute innovative technology and product development, capitalize on unique growth opportunities, extend respective leadership positions, and operate more efficiently with distinct capital structures. The completion of the planned separation is subject to certain conditions, including final approval by our Board of Directors. Significant effort is underway and extensive progress has been made with respect to the separation as we continue to drive towards completing the work required to separate the businesses by the end of calendar year 2024.

Operational Update

Macroeconomic factors such as inflation, higher interest rates and recession concerns had softened demand for our products in recent years, with certain customers reducing purchases as they adjusted their production levels and right-sized their inventories. As a result, we and our industry experienced a supply-demand imbalance, which resulted in reduced shipments and negatively impacted pricing. To adapt to these conditions, since the beginning of 2023, we have been implementing measures to reduce operating expenses, and to proactively manage supply and inventory to align with demand and improve our capital efficiency while continuing to deploy innovative products. These actions have enabled us to scale back on capital expenditures, consolidate production lines and reduce production bit growth. In 2024 and 2023, these actions have resulted in incremental charges for employee termination, asset impairment and other charges as well as charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs in HDD and Flash as a result of the underutilization of facilities as we temporarily scaled back production.

In the latter half of 2024, we began to see an improvement in the supply and demand dynamic, leading to improved revenues. The increased demand resulted in improved pricing and gross margin across our segments and end markets compared to 2023. We anticipate that digital transformation, including AI data-cycle, will continue driving improved market conditions in the near- and long-term for data storage, encompassing both HDD and Flash technologies. Leveraging our expertise and innovation in both areas, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on this improved market condition.
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Tax Resolution

As disclosed in previous periods, we had previously reached a final agreement with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and received notices of deficiency with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and in February 2024, we also reached a final agreement for resolving the notices of proposed adjustments with respect to years 2013 through 2015. During the twelve months ended June 28, 2024, we made payments aggregating $524 million for tax and interest with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and have a remaining liability of $185 million as of June 28, 2024 related to all years from 2008 through 2015. We expect to pay any remaining balance with respect to this matter within the next twelve months. Additional information is provided in our discussion in our “Results of Operations – Income Tax Expense,” and the “Short- and Long-term Liquidity – Unrecognized Tax Benefits” section below, and in Part II, Item 8, Note 13, Income Tax Expense, of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Financing Activities

On November 3, 2023, we issued $1.60 billion aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes, which bear interest at an annual rate of 3.00% and mature on November 15, 2028, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted (the “2028 Convertible Notes”). We received net proceeds of approximately $1.56 billion after issuance costs. Contemporaneously with the issuance of the 2028 Convertible Notes, we entered into individually negotiated transactions with certain holders of our existing 1.50% convertible senior notes due February 1, 2024 (the “2024 Convertible Notes”) to repurchase approximately $508 million aggregate principal amount of such notes at an immaterial discount using net proceeds from the offering of the 2028 Convertible Notes. In connection with the issuance of the 2028 Convertible Notes, we also used approximately $155 million of the net proceeds from the offering to pay the cost of entering into capped call contracts with a cap price of approximately $70.26 to hedge the potential dilution impact of the conversion feature. On February 1, 2024, we used a portion of the remaining net proceeds from the offering of the 2028 Convertible Notes to settle the remaining 2024 Convertible Notes in accordance with their original terms for an aggregate cash principal payment of $592 million plus interest.

During 2024, we drew and repaid $600 million principal amount (the “Delayed Draw Term Loan”) under a loan agreement we entered into in January 2023 and amended in June 2023. Proceeds from this loan were primarily used for payments on our tax liability to the IRS for the years 2008 through 2012.

Additional information regarding our indebtedness, including the principal repayment terms, interest rates, covenants and other key terms of our outstanding indebtedness, and additional information on the terms of our convertible preferred shares is included in Part II, Item 8, Note 7, Debt, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information regarding the risks we face as a result of macroeconomic conditions, and supply chain disruptions.

Agreement to Sell a Majority Interest in a Subsidiary

In March 2024, our wholly-owned subsidiary, SanDisk China Limited (“SanDisk China”) entered into an Equity Purchase Agreement to sell 80% of its equity interest in SanDisk Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (“SDSS”), our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, to JCET Management Co., Ltd. (“JCET”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of JCET Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese publicly listed company, thereby forming a joint venture between SanDisk China and JCET (the “Transaction”). Closing of the Transaction is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, after which JCET will own 80% of the equity interest in SDSS, with SanDisk China owning the remaining 20%. Following the closing, we expect to enter into various ancillary agreements, including (i) a shareholders agreement governing the joint venture relationships from and after the closing; (ii) a supply agreement (“Supply Agreement”) with the joint venture to supply us with certain flash-based products currently produced by SDSS, which may include flash memory cards, embedded flash products, and flash components; and (iii) an intellectual property license agreement granting SDSS certain intellectual property rights on a royalty-free basis for use in manufacturing products on our behalf for the term of and pursuant to the Supply Agreement.

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Sale-Leaseback

In September 2023, we completed a sale and leaseback of our facility in Milpitas, California. We received net proceeds of $191 million in cash and recorded a gain of $85 million on the sale. We are leasing back the facility at an annual lease rate of $16 million for the first year, increasing by 3% per year thereafter through January 1, 2039. The lease includes three 5-year renewal options and one 4-year renewal option for the ability to extend through December 2057.

Asset Impairment and Contract Termination Costs

In connection with the cost-saving actions described in “Operational Update” above, we reassessed our existing capacity development plans and made decisions during 2024 to cancel certain projects, including projects to expand capacity in our Penang, Malaysia facility. This resulted in a $146 million impairment of existing construction in progress and other assets and recognition of $34 million for certain contract termination costs during the year ended June 28, 2024.
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Results of Operations

Summary Comparison of 2024, 2023 and 2022

The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, selected summary information from our Consolidated Statements of Operations by dollars and percentage of net revenue(1):
202420232022
(in millions, except percentages)
Revenue, net$13,003 100.0 %$12,318 100.0 %$18,793 100.0 %
Cost of revenue10,058 77.4 10,431 84.7 12,919 68.7 
Gross profit2,945 22.6 1,887 15.3 5,874 31.3 
Operating expenses:
Research and development1,907 14.7 2,009 16.3 2,323 12.4 
Selling, general and administrative828 6.4 970 7.9 1,117 5.9 
Litigation matter291 2.2 — — — — 
Employee termination, asset impairment, and other139 1.1 193 1.6 43 0.2 
Business separation costs97 0.7 — — — — 
Total operating expenses3,262 25.1 3,172 25.8 3,483 18.5 
Operating income (loss)(317)(2.4)(1,285)(10.4)2,391 12.7 
Interest and other income:
Interest income39 0.3 24 0.2 6 — 
Interest expense(417)(3.2)(312)(2.5)(304)(1.6)
Other income, net34 0.3 23 0.2 78 0.4 
Total interest and other income, net(344)(2.6)(265)(2.2)(220)(1.2)
Income (loss) before taxes(661)(5.1)(1,550)(12.6)2,171 11.6 
Income tax expense137 1.1 134 1.1 625 3.3 
Net income (loss)(798)(6.1)(1,684)(13.7)1,546 8.2 
Less: cumulative dividends allocated to preferred shareholders54 0.4 24 0.2 — — 
Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders$(852)(6.6)%$(1,708)(13.9)%$1,546 8.2 %
(1)Percentage may not total due to rounding.






















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The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, a summary of our segment information:
202420232022
(in millions, except percentages)
Net revenue:
Flash$6,687$6,063$9,753
HDD6,3166,2559,040
Total net revenue$13,003$12,318$18,793
Gross profit:
Flash$1,079$433$3,527
HDD1,8811,5052,661
Unallocated corporate items:
Stock-based compensation expense(49)(49)(48)
Amortization of acquired intangible assets(3)—(66)
Recovery from contamination incident
37——
Contamination related charges——(207)
Recoveries from a power outage incident——7
Other—(2)—
Total unallocated corporate items(15)(51)(314)
Consolidated gross profit$2,945$1,887$5,874
Gross margin:
Flash16.1%7.1%36.2%
HDD29.8%24.1%29.4%
Consolidated gross margin22.6%15.3%31.3%

The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, summary information regarding our disaggregated revenue:
202420232022
(in millions)
Revenue by end market
Cloud$5,378 $5,252 $8,017 
Client4,647 4,328 7,076 
Consumer2,978 2,738 3,700 
Total revenue
$13,003 $12,318 $18,793 
Revenue by geography
Asia$6,902 $6,046 $10,054 
Americas3,971 4,172 5,867 
Europe, Middle East and Africa2,130 2,100 2,872 
Total revenue
$13,003 $12,318 $18,793 
Exabytes shipped
550 501 645 

Net Revenue

Net revenue increased 6% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily due to increased exabytes sold, and improved supply-demand balance conditions in the second half of the year as described in the “Key Developments – Operational Update” section above and as discussed in more detail by business units below.
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Flash revenue increased 10% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily driven by a 21% increase in exabytes sold, partially offset by an 8% decline in ASPs per gigabyte. The increase in exabytes sold was primarily driven by improved demand from our OEM customers in our Client end market, and higher shipments of SSDs to our customers in our Consumer end market, partially offset by lower shipments in our Cloud end market. The decrease in ASPs per gigabyte was primarily driven by the supply-demand imbalance in the first half of the year, prior to the recent improvement in supply-demand conditions as described above.

HDD revenue was relatively flat in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily reflecting an 8% increase in exabytes sold, largely offset by a 5% decline in ASPs per gigabyte. The increase in exabytes sold was driven by an increase in shipments of our high-capacity enterprise drives. The decline in ASPs per gigabyte was primarily due to a shift in the product mix to larger capacity drives.

Cloud revenue increased 2% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily driven by a 12% increase in exabytes sold, largely offset by a 7% decline in ASPs per gigabyte. The increase in exabytes sold was driven by higher shipments of our high-capacity enterprise HDD products. The decline in ASPs per gigabyte was primarily due to a shift in product mix to larger capacity drives, and pricing pressure driven by the supply-demand imbalance in the first half of the year as described above. Client revenue increased 7% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily driven by a 6% increase in exabytes sold and a 2% increase in ASPs per gigabyte. The increase in exabytes sold was driven by an increase in SSD shipments into PC applications, partially offset by lower HDD shipments. Consumer revenue increased 9% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily driven by a 6% increase in ASPs per gigabyte and a 3% increase in exabytes sold. The increase in ASPs per gigabyte was primarily driven by a favorable shift in product mix. The increase in exabytes sold was primarily due to increased shipments across all Flash products, partially offset by lower shipments of HDD products.

The changes in net revenue by geography in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily reflected larger growth in Asia from OEMs in this region as their production levels increased as well as routine variations in the mix of business.

For 2024, 2023 and 2022, our top 10 customers accounted for 39%, 43% and 45%, respectively, of our net revenue. For each of 2024, 2023 and 2022, no single customer accounted for 10% or more of our net revenue.

Consistent with standard industry practice, we have sales incentive and marketing programs that provide customers with price protection and other incentives or reimbursements that are recorded as a reduction to gross revenue. For 2024, 2023 and 2022, these programs represented 15%, 20% and 17%, respectively, of gross revenues. The amounts attributed to our sales incentive and marketing programs generally vary according to several factors including industry conditions, list pricing strategies, seasonal demand, competitor actions, channel mix and overall availability of products. Changes in future customer demand and market conditions may require us to adjust our incentive programs as a percentage of gross revenue.

Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Consolidated gross profit increased $1.06 billion in 2024 compared to 2023. The increase was largely due to higher revenues from both Flash and HDD, cost reductions due to cost efficiencies achieved through improved manufacturing operations and cost-saving actions, and a more favorable product mix. The increase also reflected charges of approximately $407 million ($252 million in Flash and $155 million in HDD) for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs as a result of the reduced utilization of our manufacturing capacity in 2024, compared to approximately $497 million of such costs ($296 million in Flash and $201 million in HDD) in 2023. In addition, we incurred charges of approximately $50 million in 2024 to write down Flash inventory as a result of the decreases in market pricing, compared to charges of $108 million of such costs in 2023. Consolidated gross margin increased 7.3 percentage points in 2024 compared to 2023, with approximately 2 percentage points of the increase due to the lower net charges in the current period and the remainder driven by the same factors as noted above. Flash gross margin increased by 9.0 percentage points year over year, driven by improving pricing, cost reduction initiatives and a favorable shift in product mix. HDD gross margin increased by 5.7 percentage points year over year driven by improving pricing and cost reduction initiatives.

Operating Expenses

R&D expense decreased $102 million or 5% in 2024 compared to 2023, which was primarily driven by a $31 million decrease in compensation and benefits, a $30 million decrease in depreciation and amortization and a $13 million decrease in outside services. The decrease in compensation and benefits was due to a reduction in headcount. The reduction in depreciation and amortization is attributed to lower capital expenditures in 2024 compared to 2023.

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Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense decreased $142 million or 15% in 2024 compared to 2023. This decrease was primarily driven by a $133 million decrease in intangible amortization expense and a $13 million decrease in sales and marketing expenses, partially offset by an increase of $18 million in material purchases. The reduction in intangible amortization expense was due to most of our intangible assets becoming fully amortized in the previous year.

Litigation matter of $291 million for the year ended June 28, 2024 was related to a judgment in an intellectual property dispute as disclosed in Part II Item 8, Note 17, Legal Proceedings, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Employee termination, asset impairment, and other decreased $54 million or 28% in 2024 compared to 2023, reflecting fewer restructuring actions taken in the current period and a gain on the sale-leaseback of our Milpitas, California facility, partially offset by higher contract termination charges and asset impairments caused by project cancellations. For additional information regarding employee termination, asset impairment, and other, see Part II, Item 8, Note 15, Employee Termination, Asset Impairment, and Other, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Business separation costs were $97 million for the year ended June 28, 2024, primarily reflecting $33 million of charges incurred for stamp duties associated with establishing new legal entities, with the remaining charges attributable to fees to outside professional service providers to support the planned separation of our Flash and HDD businesses.

Interest and Other Income

Total interest and other income, net increased $79 million or 30% in 2024 compared to 2023, primarily reflecting a $105 million of higher interest expense resulting from increases in interest rates and higher outstanding debt balance, partially offset by higher other income, net, of $11 million, driven primarily by a net gain on our strategic investments, and $15 million of higher interest income due to higher interest rates.

Income Tax Expense

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “2017 Act”) includes a broad range of tax reform proposals affecting businesses. We completed our accounting for the tax effects of the enactment of the 2017 Act during the second quarter of fiscal 2019. However, the U.S. Treasury and the IRS have issued tax guidance on certain provisions of the 2017 Act since the enactment date, and we anticipate the issuance of additional regulatory and interpretive guidance. We applied a reasonable interpretation of the 2017 Act along with the then-available guidance in finalizing our accounting for the tax effects of the 2017 Act. Any additional regulatory or interpretive guidance would constitute new information, which may require further refinements to our estimates in future periods.

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which contained significant law changes related to tax, climate, energy and health care. The tax measures include, among other things, a corporate alternative minimum tax (“CAMT”) of 15% on corporations with three-year average annual adjusted financial statement income (“AFSI”) exceeding $1.00 billion. The CAMT is effective for us beginning with fiscal year 2024. We are not subject to the CAMT of 15% for fiscal year 2024 as our average annual AFSI did not exceed $1.00 billion for the preceding three-year period.

The following table sets forth Income tax information from our Consolidated Statements of Operations by dollar and effective tax rate:
 202420232022
(in millions, except percentages)
Income (loss) before taxes$(661)$(1,550)$2,171 
Income tax expense137 134 625 
Effective tax rate(21)%(9)%29 %

Beginning in 2023, the 2017 Act requires us to capitalize and amortize R&D expenses rather than expensing them in the year incurred. The tax effects related to the capitalization of R&D expenses are included in the effective tax rate for fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

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The primary drivers of the difference between the effective tax rate for 2024 and the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 21% are the relative mix of earnings and losses by jurisdiction, the deduction for foreign derived intangible income, credits, and tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand that will expire at various dates during years 2025 through 2031. On November 1, 2023, one of our tax holidays in Malaysia expired. We have applied for an extension and anticipate this extension, if granted, will be applied retroactively and begin on November 2, 2023. Because the exact terms of the extension are not currently known, we are applying the Malaysia corporate statutory tax rate on the expired tax holiday income. If a retroactive extension is granted, we will make an adjustment to our effective tax rate in that period.

The primary drivers of the difference between the effective tax rate for 2023 and the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 21% are the relative mix of earnings and losses by jurisdiction, the deduction for foreign derived intangible income, credits, and tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand that will expire at various dates during years 2025 through 2031.

Our future effective tax rate is subject to future regulatory developments and changes in the mix of our U.S. earnings compared to foreign earnings. The 2017 Act requires us to capitalize and amortize R&D expenses rather than expensing them in the year incurred. As described above, these capitalized expenses are included in our effective tax rate for 2024, but did not have a material impact on the effective tax rate due to our reduced profitability. Mandatory capitalization of R&D is expected to materially increase our effective tax rate and taxes paid in future periods, if not repealed or otherwise modified. In addition, our total tax expense in future years may also vary as a result of discrete items such as excess tax benefits or deficiencies.

On December 20, 2021, the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting released Model Global Anti-Base Erosion rules under Pillar Two (“Pillar Two Model Rules”). Several non-US jurisdictions have either enacted legislation or announced their intention to enact future legislation to adopt certain or all components of the Pillar Two Model Rules, which may be effective for us as early as 2025. When effective, this legislation could materially increase our tax obligations in certain jurisdictions. We continue to evaluate the tax impact of enacted and future legislation concerning the Pillar Two Model Rules in the non-US tax jurisdictions we operate in.

For additional information regarding Income tax expense, see Part II, Item 8, Note 13, Income Tax Expense, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

A discussion of our results of operations for 2022, including a comparison of such results of operations to 2023, is included in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023 filed with the SEC on August 22, 2023.

























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Liquidity and Capital Resources

The following table summarizes our statements of cash flows:
 202420232022
(in millions)
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities$(294)$(408)$1,880 
Investing activities(27)(762)(1,192)
Financing activities187 875 (1,718)
 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash(10)(9)(13)
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents
$(144)$(304)$(1,043)

We had previously reached a final agreement with the IRS and received notices of deficiency with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and in February 2024, we also reached a final agreement for resolving the notices of proposed adjustments with respect to years 2013 through 2015. During the twelve months ended June 28, 2024, we made payments of $363 million for tax and $161 million for interest with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and recorded adjustments to align with IRS calculations, resulting in a remaining liability of $185 million as of June 28, 2024, related to all years from 2008 through 2015. We expect to pay any remaining balance with respect to this matter within the next twelve months.

In connection with settlements for the years 2008 through 2015, we expect to realize reductions to our mandatory deemed repatriation tax obligations and tax savings from interest deductions in future years aggregating to $165 million. Of this amount, $34 million of interest savings from the interest paid with respect to years 2008 through 2012 is classified as a deferred tax asset due to interest expense limitation rules. See Part II, Item 8, Note 13, Income Tax Expense, of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We have an existing shelf registration statement (the “Shelf Registration Statement”) filed with the SEC, which allows us to offer and sell shares of common stock, preferred stock, warrants, and debt securities. The Shelf Registration Statement expires in late August 2024, and we plan to renew the Shelf Registration Statement at that time. We may use the Shelf Registration Statement or other capital sources, including other offerings of equity or debt securities or the credit markets, to satisfy future financing needs, including planned or unanticipated capital expenditures, investments, debt repayments or other expenses. Any such additional financing will be subject to market conditions and may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all.

As noted previously, in 2024, we had scaled back on capital expenditures, consolidating production lines and reducing bit growth to align with market demand. We reduced our expenditures for property, plant and equipment and our portion of the Flash Ventures’ capital expenditures for its operations to approximately $825 million in 2024 from approximately $2.22 billion in 2023. After consideration of the Flash Ventures’ lease financing of its capital expenditures and net operating cash flow, we reduced our net cash used for our purchases of property, plant and equipment and net activity in notes receivable relating to Flash Ventures to $53 million in 2024 from $794 million in 2023. We continue to be cautious in our capital investment and expect our cash capital expenditures in 2025 to remain below 2023 expenditures.

We believe our cash and cash equivalents as well as our available revolving credit facility will be sufficient to meet our working capital, debt and capital expenditure needs for at least the next twelve months and for the foreseeable future thereafter. We believe we can also access the various capital markets to further supplement our liquidity position if necessary. Our ability to sustain our working capital position is subject to a number of risks that we discuss in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

A total of $1.43 billion and $1.28 billion of our cash and cash equivalents were held outside of the U.S. as of June 28, 2024 and June 30, 2023, respectively. There are no material tax consequences that were not previously accrued for on the repatriation of this cash.

Our cash equivalents are primarily invested in money market funds that invest in U.S. Treasury securities and U.S. Government agency securities. In addition, from time to time, we also invest directly in certificates of deposit, asset-backed securities and corporate and municipal notes and bonds.

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Operating Activities

Net cash provided by or used in operating activities primarily consists of net income or loss, adjusted for non-cash charges, plus or minus changes in operating assets and liabilities. Net cash used for changes in operating assets and liabilities was $307 million for 2024, as compared to $92 million of net cash provided by such changes for 2023, which largely reflects payments made on the IRS matter and an increase in net operating assets and liabilities resulting from the increase in the volume of our business. Changes in our operating assets and liabilities are largely affected by our working capital requirements, which are dependent on our volume of business and the effective management of our cash conversion cycle as well as timing of payments for taxes. Our cash conversion cycle measures how quickly we can convert our products into cash through sales. At the end of the respective fourth quarters, the cash conversion cycles were as follows (in days):
202420232022
(in days)
Days sales outstanding52 54 56 
Days in inventory126 130 107 
Days payables outstanding(65)(56)(66)
Cash conversion cycle113 128 97 

Changes in days sales outstanding (“DSO”) are generally due to the timing of shipments to and collections from customers. Changes in days in inventory (“DIO”) are generally related to the timing of inventory builds and shipments to customers. Changes in days payables outstanding (“DPO”) are generally related to production volume and the timing of purchases during the period. From time to time, we make payment term modifications with vendors through negotiations with them or by granting to, or receiving from, our vendors payment term accommodations. We make modifications primarily to manage our vendor relationships and to manage our cash flows, including our cash balances.

In 2024, DSO decreased by 2 days over the prior year, reflecting timing of shipments and customer collections, partially offset by a 5-day increase from lower accounts receivable factoring. DIO decreased by 4 days over the prior year, primarily reflecting an increase in products shipped. DPO increased 9 days over the prior year, primarily due to more favorable payment terms and routine variations in the timing of purchases and payments during the period.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities in 2024 primarily consisted of $487 million in capital expenditures, partially offset by $239 million in net notes receivable proceeds from (issuances to) Flash Ventures and $195 million in proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment. Net cash used in investing activities in 2023 primarily consisted of $821 million of capital expenditures, partially offset by $14 million in net notes receivable proceeds from (issuances to) Flash Ventures.

Financing Activities

During 2024, net cash provided by financing activities primarily consisted of $3.00 billion in proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Convertible Notes, the drawdown of the Delayed Draw Term Loan and draws on the revolving credit facility. These sources were partially offset by $2.10 billion used for the repayment of draws on the revolving credit facility, repayments of the Delayed Draw Term Loan, scheduled payments on the Term Loan A-2, and settlement of the remaining 2024 Convertible Notes; $505 million used to repurchase a portion of the 2024 Convertible Notes and $155 million for the purchase of capped calls to hedge the potential dilution impact of the conversion feature of the 2028 Convertible Notes. Net cash provided by financing activities in 2023 primarily consisted of $881 million from the issuance of Series A Preferred Stock and $93 million from issuance of stock under employee stock plans, partially offset by $80 million used for taxes paid on vested stock awards under employee stock plans. In addition, we drew and repaid $1.18 billion under our revolving credit facility within the period.

A discussion of our cash flows for 2022, including a comparison of such cash flows to 2023, is included in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2023 filed with the SEC on August 22, 2023.
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Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

Other than the commitments related to Flash Ventures incurred in the normal course of business and certain indemnification provisions (see “Short- and Long-term Liquidity – Indemnifications” below), we do not have any other material off-balance sheet financing arrangements or liabilities, guarantee contracts, retained or contingent interests in transferred assets, or any other obligation arising out of a material variable interest in an unconsolidated entity. We do not have any majority-owned subsidiaries that are not included in the Consolidated Financial Statements. Additionally, with the exception of Flash Ventures and our joint venture with Unisplendour Corporation Limited and Unissoft (Wuxi) Group Co. Ltd. (“Unis”), referred to as the “Unis Venture”, we do not have an interest in, or relationships with, any variable interest entities. For additional information regarding our off-balance sheet arrangements, see Part II, Item 8, Note 9, Related Parties and Related Commitments and Contingencies, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Short- and Long-term Liquidity

Material Cash Requirements

The following is a summary of our known material cash requirements, including those for capital expenditures, as of June 28, 2024. In addition, see the discussions further below related to unrecognized tax benefits, the intellectual property litigation, dividend rights with respect to the Series A Preferred Stock, foreign exchange contracts and indemnifications.
Total1 Year (2025)2-3 Years (2026-2027)4-5 Years (2028-2029)More than 5 Years (Beyond 2029)
(in millions)
Long-term debt, including current portion(1)
$7,488 $1,750 $4,738 $500 $500 
Interest on debt1,076 371 527 132 46 
Flash Ventures related commitments(2)
4,168 2,021 1,526 522 99 
Operating leases499 60 107 78 254 
Purchase obligations and other commitments477 172 155 40 110 
Mandatory deemed repatriation tax466 265 201 — — 
Total$14,174 $4,639 $7,254 $1,272 $1,009 
(1)Principal portion of debt, excluding discounts and issuance costs based on contractual maturity. As of June 28, 2024, $1.60 billion of our 2028 Convertible Notes are currently convertible at the option of the holders through September 30, 2024, at which point the trading price of our common stock price will be re-evaluated to determine if the 2028 Convertible Notes will continue to be convertible in the subsequent calendar quarter.
(2)Includes reimbursement for depreciation and lease payments on owned and committed equipment, funding commitments for loans and equity investments and payments for other committed expenses, including R&D and building depreciation. Funding commitments assume no additional operating lease guarantees. Additional operating lease guarantees can reduce funding commitments.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits

As of June 28, 2024, the liability for unrecognized tax benefits (excluding accrued interest and penalties) was approximately $721 million. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits are recognized in liabilities for uncertain tax positions and are recorded in the provision for income taxes. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as of June 28, 2024, were approximately $181 million. Of these amounts, approximately $736 million could result in potential cash payments.

As noted above, we had previously reached a final agreement with the IRS regarding notices of deficiency with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and in February 2024, we also reached a final agreement for resolving the notices of proposed adjustments with respect to years 2013 through 2015. During the twelve months ended June 28, 2024, we made payments of $363 million for tax and $161 million for interest with respect to years 2008 through 2012 and recorded adjustments to align with IRS calculations, resulting in a remaining liability of $185 million as of June 28, 2024 related to all years from 2008 through 2015. We expect to pay any remaining balance with respect to this matter within the next twelve months.

In connection with settlements for the years 2008 through 2015, we expect to realize reductions to our mandatory deemed repatriation tax obligations and tax savings from interest deductions in future years aggregating to approximately $165 million. Of this amount, $34 million of interest savings from the interest paid with respect to years 2008 through 2012 is classified as a deferred tax asset due to interest expense limitation rules. See Part II, Item 8, Note 13, Income Tax Expense of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Intellectual Property Litigation

As of June 28, 2024, we have recognized an aggregate liability of $384 million within Accrued expenses on our Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 28, 2024, for the potential loss from a litigation matter, as discussed in Part II, Item 8, Note 17, Legal Proceedings, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Of that amount, $291 million was recognized as Litigation matter under Operating expenses on our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended June 28, 2024 and $93 million recognized within Other non-current assets on the our Consolidated Balance Sheets as June 28, 2024, to be amortized over the remaining lives of the MRT Patents. See Part II, Item 8, Note 17, Legal Proceedings, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information.

Dividends

As of June 28, 2024, 235,000 shares of our Series A Preferred Stock remained outstanding. These shares are entitled to cumulative preferred dividends and will also participate in any dividends declared for common shareholders on an as-converted equivalent basis. See Part II, Item 8, Note 12, Shareholders’ Equity and Convertible Preferred Stock, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information regarding these dividend provisions.

In April 2020, we suspended the payment of dividends to common shareholders and intend to utilize cash from operations to reinvest in the business and to support our ongoing deleveraging efforts.

Debt

As described in “Key Developments – Financing Activities” above, we undertook several financing actions during 2024, including the issuance of the 2028 Convertible Notes and the repurchase and/or settlement of our 2024 Convertible Notes.

The 2028 Convertible Notes are convertible at the option of any holder at an initial conversion price of approximately $52.20 per share of common stock beginning August 15, 2028. Prior to that date, if the trading price of our common stock remains above 130% of the conversion price for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during the 30 consecutive trading-day period prior to the end of a calendar quarter, holders of the 2028 Convertible Notes would have the right to convert the 2028 Convertible Notes during the next succeeding calendar quarter. The 2028 Convertible Notes are also convertible prior to that date upon the occurrence of certain corporate events. Upon any conversion of the 2028 Convertible Notes, we will pay cash for the aggregate principal amount of the notes to be converted and pay or deliver, as the case may be, cash, shares of our common stock or a combination thereof, at our election, in respect of the remainder, if any, of our conversion obligation in excess of the aggregate principal amount of the notes being converted.

During the 30 trading-day period ended June 28, 2024, the last trading day of the applicable calendar quarter, the trading price of our common stock was greater than or equal to 130% of the then-applicable conversion price for the 2028 Convertible Notes for at least 20 trading days. As such, the conditional conversion feature of the 2028 Convertible Notes was triggered and the 2028 Convertible Notes are convertible through September 30, 2024, at which point the trading price of our common stock price will be re-evaluated to determine if the 2028 Convertible Notes will continue to be convertible in the subsequent calendar quarter.

In addition to our existing debt, as of June 28, 2024, we had $2.22 billion available for borrowing under our revolving credit facility until January 2027, subject to customary conditions under the loan agreement. The agreements governing our credit facilities each include limits on secured indebtedness and certain types of unsecured subsidiary indebtedness and require us and certain of our subsidiaries to provide guarantees and collateral to the extent the conditions providing for such guarantees and collateral are met. Additional information regarding our indebtedness, including information about availability under our revolving credit facility and the principal repayment terms, interest rates, covenants and other key terms of our outstanding indebtedness, is included in Part II, Item 8, Note 7, Debt, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The loan agreement governing our revolving credit facility and our Term Loan A-2 due 2027 require us to comply with certain financial covenants, consisting of a minimum leverage ratio covenant and a minimum liquidity covenant. As of June 28, 2024, we were in compliance with these financial covenants.
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Flash Ventures

Flash Ventures sells to, and leases back from, a consortium of financial institutions a portion of its tools and has entered into equipment lease agreements, of which we guarantee half or all of the outstanding obligations under each lease agreement. The leases are subject to customary covenants and cancellation events that relate to Flash Ventures and each of the guarantors. The occurrence of a cancellation event could result in an acceleration of the lease obligations and a call on our guarantees. As of June 28, 2024, we were in compliance with all covenants under these Japanese lease facilities. See Part II, Item 8, Note 9, Related Parties and Related Commitments and Contingencies, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information regarding Flash Ventures.

Purchase Obligations and Other Commitments

In the normal course of business, we enter into purchase orders with suppliers for the purchase of components used to manufacture our products. These purchase orders generally cover forecasted component supplies needed for production during the next quarter, are recorded as a liability upon receipt of the components, and generally may be changed or canceled at any time prior to shipment of the components. We also enter into long-term agreements with suppliers that contain fixed future commitments, which are contingent on certain conditions such as performance, quality and technology of the vendor’s components. These arrangements are included under “Purchase obligations and other commitments” in the table above.

Mandatory Deemed Repatriation Tax

The following is a summary of our estimated mandatory deemed repatriation tax obligations that are payable in the following years (in millions):
June 28,
2024
2025$265 
2026201 
Total$466 

Mandatory Research and Development Expense Capitalization

Since the beginning of 2023, the 2017 Act has required us to capitalize and amortize R&D expenses rather than expensing them in the year incurred, which is expected to result in materially higher cash tax payments in future profitable periods, if not repealed or otherwise modified.

Foreign Exchange Contracts

We purchase foreign exchange contracts to hedge the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on certain underlying assets, liabilities and commitments for operating expenses and product costs denominated in foreign currencies. For a description of our current foreign exchange contract commitments, see Part II, Item 8, Note 6, Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Indemnifications

In the ordinary course of business, we may provide indemnifications of varying scope and terms to customers, vendors, lessors, business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses arising out of our breach of agreements, products or services to be provided by us, environmental compliance, or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and certain of our officers that will require us, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. We maintain director and officer insurance, which may cover certain liabilities arising from our obligation to indemnify our directors and officers in certain circumstances.

It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Such indemnification agreements may not be subject to maximum loss clauses. Historically, we have not incurred material costs as a result of obligations under these agreements.

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Recent Accounting Pronouncements

For a description of recently issued and adopted accounting pronouncements, including the respective dates of adoption and expected effects on our results of operations and financial condition, see Part II, Item 8, Note 2, Recent Accounting Pronouncements, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We have prepared the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”). The preparation of the financial statements requires the use of judgments and estimates that affect the reported amounts of revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity. We have adopted accounting policies and practices that are generally accepted in the industry in which we operate. If these estimates differ significantly from actual results, the impact to the Consolidated Financial Statements may be material.

Revenue

We provide distributors and retailers (collectively referred to as “resellers”) with limited price protection for inventories held by resellers at the time of published list price reductions. We also provide resellers and OEMs with other sales incentive programs. We record estimated variable consideration related to these items as a reduction to revenue at the time of revenue recognition. We use judgment in our assessment of variable consideration in contracts to be included in the transaction price. We use the expected value method to arrive at the amount of variable consideration. We constrain variable consideration until the likelihood of a significant revenue reversal is not probable and believes that the expected value method is the appropriate estimate of the amount of variable consideration based on the fact that we have a large number of contracts with similar characteristics.

For sales to OEMs, our methodology for estimating variable consideration is based on the amount of consideration expected to be earned based on the OEMs’ volume of purchases from us or other agreed-upon sales incentive programs. For sales to resellers, the methodology for estimating variable consideration is based on several factors including historical pricing information, current pricing trends and channel inventory levels. Estimating the impact of these factors requires significant judgement and the estimated amount of variable consideration can differ from the actual amount.

Inventories

We value inventories at the lower of cost or net realizable value (“NRV”), with cost determined on a first-in, first-out basis. We record inventory write-downs of our inventory to lower of cost or net realizable value or for obsolete or excess inventory based on assumptions, which requires significant judgement. The determination of NRV involves estimating the ASPs less any selling expenses of inventory based on market conditions and customer demand. To estimate the ASPs and selling expenses of inventory, we review historical sales, future demand, economic conditions, contract prices and other information.

We periodically perform an excess and obsolete analysis of our inventory based on assumptions, which includes changes in business and economic conditions, changes in technology and projected demand of our products. If in any period we anticipate a change in those assumptions to be less favorable than our previous estimates, additional inventory write-downs may be required and could materially and negatively impact our gross margin. If in any period, we can sell inventories that had been written down to a level below the realized selling price in previous period, higher gross profit would be recognized in that period. While adjustments to these reserves have generally not been material to the years presented, in 2023, we recorded a charge to Cost of revenue of approximately $130 million, primarily to reduce component inventory to net realizable value as a result of a sudden change in demand for certain products.

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Income Taxes

We account for income taxes under the asset and liability method, which provides that deferred tax assets and liabilities be recognized for temporary differences between the financial reporting basis and the tax basis of our assets and liabilities and expected benefits of utilizing net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. We record a valuation allowance when it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Each quarter, we evaluate the need for a valuation allowance for our deferred tax assets and we adjust the valuation allowance so that we record net deferred tax assets only to the extent that we conclude it is more likely than not that these deferred tax assets will be realized. The assessment of valuation allowances against our deferred tax assets requires estimations and significant judgment. We continue to assess and adjust our valuation allowance based on operating results and market conditions. We account for interest and penalties related to income taxes as a component of the provision for income taxes.

We recognize liabilities for uncertain tax positions based on a two-step process. To the extent a tax position does not meet a more-likely-than-not level of certainty, no benefit is recognized in the Consolidated Financial Statements. If a position meets the more-likely-than-not level of certainty, it is recognized in the Consolidated Financial Statements at the largest amount that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. Interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits are recognized on liabilities recorded for uncertain tax positions and are recorded in our provision for income taxes. The actual liability for unrealized tax benefits in any such contingency may be materially different from our estimates, which could result in the need to record additional liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits or potentially adjust previously-recorded liabilities for unrealized tax benefits and materially affect our operating results.

Goodwill

Goodwill is not amortized. Instead, it is tested for impairment on an annual basis or more frequently whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that goodwill may be impaired. We perform our annual impairment test as of the first day of our fourth quarter for each reporting unit. We use qualitative factors to determine whether goodwill is more likely than not impaired and whether a quantitative test for impairment is considered necessary. If we conclude from the qualitative assessment that goodwill is more likely than not impaired, we are required to perform a quantitative assessment to determine the amount of impairment. We are required to use judgment when applying the goodwill impairment test, including in the identification of our reporting units. We also make judgments and assumptions in the assignment of assets and liabilities to our reporting units, assignment of goodwill to reporting units and determination of the fair value of each reporting unit. In addition, the estimates used to determine the fair value of each of our reporting units may change based on results of operations, macroeconomic conditions or other factors. Changes in these estimates could materially affect our assessment of the fair value and goodwill impairment for each reporting unit. If our stock price decreases significantly, goodwill could become impaired, which could result in a material charge and adversely affect our results of operations. We have not identified any impairment indicators for our reporting units as of June 28, 2024. We also did not incur any impairment charges for 2023 or 2022.

Litigation and Contingencies

We disclose information regarding claims and contingencies where the likelihood of a material loss is probable or reasonably possible. If a loss contingency is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, we record an accrual for the loss. In such cases, there may be an exposure to potential loss in excess of the amount accrued. Where a loss is not probable but is reasonably possible or where a loss in excess of the amount accrued is reasonably possible, we disclose the matter and an estimate of the amount of the loss or range of possible losses for the claim if a reasonable estimate can be made, unless the amount of such reasonably possible losses is not material to our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The ability to predict the ultimate outcome of such matters involves significant judgments about the merits of the claim, applicable law, potential outcomes, estimates and inherent uncertainties. We engage relevant subject matter experts to assist us with our assessment of available information to reach conclusions on the likelihood and amount, or range, of potential loss. The actual outcome of such matters could differ materially from our estimates.


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Item 7A.    Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Disclosure About Foreign Currency Risk

Although the majority of our transactions are in U.S. dollars, some transactions are based in various foreign currencies. We purchase short-term foreign exchange contracts to hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange fluctuations on certain underlying assets, liabilities and commitments for product costs and Operating expenses denominated in foreign currencies. The purpose of entering into these hedge transactions is to minimize the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on our results of operations. Substantially all of the contract maturity dates do not exceed 12 months. We do not purchase foreign exchange contracts for speculative or trading purposes. For additional information, see Part II, Item 8, Note 5, Fair Value Measurements and Investments, and Note 6, Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We have performed sensitivity analyses for 2024, using a modeling technique that measures the change in the fair values arising from a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in the levels of foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar, with all other variables held constant. The analyses cover all of our foreign currency derivative contracts used to offset the underlying exposures. The foreign currency exchange rates used in performing the sensitivity analyses were based on market rates in effect at June 28, 2024. The sensitivity analyses indicated that a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar would result in a foreign exchange fair value loss of $248 million at June 28, 2024.

During 2024, 2023 and 2022, total net realized and unrealized transaction and foreign exchange contract currency gains and losses were not material to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Notwithstanding our efforts to mitigate some foreign exchange risks, we do not hedge all of our foreign currency exposures, and there can be no assurance that our mitigating activities related to the exposures that we hedge will adequately protect us against risks associated with foreign currency fluctuations.

Disclosure About Interest Rate Risk

Variable Interest Rate Risk

We have generally held a balance of fixed and variable rate debt. As of June 28, 2024, our variable rate debt outstanding consisted of our Term Loan A-2, which is based on various index rates as discussed further in Note 7, Debt, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As of June 28, 2024, the outstanding balance on our Term Loan A-2 was $2.59 billion and a 1% increase in the variable rate of interest would increase annual interest expense by $26 million.

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Item 8.    Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Index to Financial Statements
PAGE NO.
Consolidated Financial Statements:
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (Auditor Firm ID: 185)
Consolidated Balance Sheets — As of June 28, 2024 and June 30, 2023
Consolidated Statements of Operations — Three Years Ended June 28, 2024
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss — Three Years Ended June 28, 2024
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows — Three Years Ended June 28, 2024
Consolidated Statements of Convertible Preferred Stock and Shareholders' Equity — Three Years Ended June 28, 2024
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors
Western Digital Corporation:

Opinions on the Consolidated Financial Statements and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Western Digital Corporation and subsidiaries (the Company) as of June 28, 2024 and June 30, 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), cash flows, convertible preferred stock and shareholders’ equity for each of the years in the three-year period ended June 28, 2024, and the related notes (collectively, the consolidated financial statements). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of June 28, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of June 28, 2024 and June 30, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended June 28, 2024, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of June 28, 2024 based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

Basis for Opinions

The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Item 9A Controls and Procedures – Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

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Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of a critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Assessment of variable consideration for sales to resellers

As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company provides resellers with price protection and other sales incentive programs. The Company uses judgment in its assessment of variable consideration related to these items in contracts to be included in the transaction price. The Company’s estimate of variable consideration for sales to resellers is based on several factors, including historical pricing information, current pricing trends, and channel inventory levels.

We identified the assessment of variable consideration for sales to resellers as a critical audit matter. A high degree of subjective auditor judgment was required to evaluate the Company’s historical pricing information and the level of channel inventory used to determine variable consideration for sales to resellers.

The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter. We evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of certain internal controls related to the Company’s process for determining the variable consideration, including certain controls related to historical pricing information and the level of channel inventory. We evaluated historical pricing by inspecting a sample of customer contracts with resellers and comparing the sales incentives earned during the year to the sales incentive program terms and conditions and recalculating amounts paid to the resellers. We tested the channel inventory levels by comparing the on-hand inventory amounts for a sample of resellers to information obtained from the resellers and evaluated the reasonableness of reconciling items.


/s/ KPMG LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1970.

Santa Clara, California
August 19, 2024


53
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in millions, except par value)

June 28,
2024		June 30,
2023
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents$1,879 $2,023 
Accounts receivable, net2,166 1,598 
Inventories3,342 3,698 
Other current assets673 567 
Total current assets8,060 7,886 
Property, plant and equipment, net3,167 3,620 
Notes receivable and investments in Flash Ventures991 1,410 
Goodwill10,032 10,037 
Other intangible assets, net78 80 
Other non-current assets1,860 1,513 
Total assets$24,188 $24,546 
LIABILITIES, CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable$1,411 $1,293 
Accounts payable to related parties313 292 
Accrued expenses1,480 1,288 
Income taxes payable525 999 
Accrued compensation608 349 
Current portion of long-term debt1,750 1,213 
Total current liabilities6,087 5,434 
Long-term debt5,684 5,857 
Other liabilities1,370 1,415 
Total liabilities13,141 12,706 
Commitments and contingencies (Notes 9, 10, 13 and 17)
Convertible preferred stock, $0.01 par value; authorized — 5 shares; issued and outstanding — 0.2 shares in 2024 and 0.9 shares in 2023; aggregate liquidation preference of $257 and $924 as of June 28, 2024 and June 30, 2023, respectively
229 876 
Shareholders’ equity:
Common stock, $0.01 par value; authorized — 750 shares in 2024 and 450 shares in 2023; issued and outstanding — 343 shares in 2024 and 322 shares in 2023
3 3 
Additional paid-in capital4,752 3,936 
Accumulated other comprehensive loss(712)(548)
Retained earnings6,775 7,573 
Total shareholders’ equity10,818 10,964 
Total liabilities, convertible preferred stock and shareholders’ equity$24,188 $24,546 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.
54
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(in millions, except per share amounts)
Year Ended
June 28,
2024		June 30,
2023		July 1,
2022
Revenue, net$13,003 $12,318 $18,793 
Cost of revenue10,058 10,431 12,919 
Gross profit2,945 1,887 5,874 
Operating expenses:
Research and development1,907 2,009 2,323 
Selling, general and administrative828 970 1,117 
Litigation matter
291 — — 
Employee termination, asset impairment, and other
139 193 43 
Business separation costs
97 — — 
Total operating expenses3,262 3,172 3,483 
Operating income (loss)(317)(1,285)2,391 
Interest and other income:
Interest income39 24 6 
Interest expense(417)(312)(304)
Other income, net34 23 78 
Total interest and other income, net(344)(265)(220)
Income (loss) before taxes(661)(1,550)2,171 
Income tax expense137 134 625 
Net income (loss)(798)(1,684)1,546 
Less: cumulative dividends allocated to preferred shareholders54 24 — 
Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders$(852)$(1,708)$1,546 
Income (loss) per common share
Basic$(2.61)$(5.37)$4.96 
Diluted$(2.61)$(5.37)$4.89 
Weighted average shares outstanding:
Basic326 318 312 
Diluted326 318 316 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated Financial Statements.
55
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)
(in millions)
Year Ended
June 28,
2024		June 30,
2023		July 1,
2022
Net income (loss)$(798)$(1,684)$1,546 
Other comprehensive gain (loss), before tax:
Actuarial pension gain23 12 26 
Foreign currency translation adjustment(115)(88)(262)
Net unrealized gain (loss) on derivative contracts (87)138 (180)
Total other comprehensive gain (loss), before tax(179)62 (416)
Income tax benefit (expense) related to items of other comprehensive gain (loss), before tax15 (31)36 
Other comprehensive gain (loss), net of tax(164)31 (380)
Total comprehensive income (loss)$(962)$(