Hard drive giant Western Digital will invest $1 billion in Japan

The hard drive industry is controlled by large companies based in the US and Japan and is in a fierce race to develop larger, more environmentally friendly capacities.

Western Digital, the world's largest hard drive maker, will invest $1 billion in Japan over the next five years to help the company “drive the next generation of innovation.”

The $1 billion investment by 2030 is a “significant increase” from five years ago, CEO Irving Tan told Nikkei, adding the US company will use the money to develop next-generation technologies and manufacturing techniques to improve hard drive performance, hire staff and collaborate with research institutes and universities.

Western Digital has a research and development center in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

“Japan is extremely important to Western Digital as it is one of our largest R&D facilities in the world,” said CEO Tan. “Most of the innovations we are delivering to our resellers and customers today were invented in Japan, at our Fujisawa office.”

The company will also increase its procurement activities in Japan, a “very, very important” supply base for Western Digital, as 40% of Western’s global procurement activities come from Japan, and total spending with partners there will reach $1.5 billion in fiscal 2025. According to CEO Tan, this number is expected to increase in the future.

The hard drive industry used to have about 40 manufacturers in the 1990s, but has since gone through many mergers and exits.

Today, the industry is controlled by Western Digital, Seagate Technology (based in the US) and Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage (of Japan).

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent, the demand for data center storage is also increasing.

Western Digital's data center-focused cloud business accounted for 90% of total revenue in the second quarter, a clear sign of its shift away from the PC business.

The hard drive industry is in an increasingly fierce race to develop larger capacities and become more environmentally friendly.

One next-generation technology that is attracting attention is heat-assisted magnetic recording, which Western Digital is aiming to increase the maximum capacity of hard drives from the 32 terabytes currently sold to 100 terabytes./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/ong-lon-o-cung-western-digital-se-dau-tu-1-ty-usd-vao-nhat-ban-post1067770.vnp