Western Digital tops quarterly profit estimates on demand from cloud computing customers

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(Reuters) – Western Digital Corp topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on demand for its data-storage products from cloud service providers, sending its shares up 9% in extended trading on Thursday.

The AI boom has powered a recovery in memory chips demand as cloud service providers build infrastructure to support new applications.

“With the continued proliferation of the AI Data Cycle, our Flash and HDD product portfolios are well-positioned to capitalize on significant opportunities as adoption continues to grow,” CEO David Goeckeler said.

Western Digital reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.78, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.72.

Revenue from the cloud market climbed 17% to $2.21 billion sequentially.

Earlier this month, the company said its enterprise SSD memory storage device has been certified to support Nvidia’s AI server system.

Western Digital’s first-quarter revenue was $4.10 billion, compared with estimate of $4.12 billion.

The data-storage products maker expects second-quarter revenue in the range $4.20 billion to $4.40 billion, whose mid- point is below estimate of $4.34 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It expects adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.75 to $2.05, compared with estimates of $1.93.

Rival Seagate Technology forecast upbeat profit for its second quarter on Tuesday, driven by significant increase in cloud demand.

(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)