WD CEO Irving Tan Discusses Earnings and AI Storage Demand Drivers on CNBC
Irving Tan, CEO of US storage giant Western Digital, joined Kelly Evans on CNBC's The Exchange to discuss Q1 FY2027 earnings, including 55% year-over-year revenue growth, expanding gross margins, and increased dividends. Tan explained how AI fundamentally drives storage demand as a data system and broke down four key demand drivers: cloud growth, model training, inference/agentic systems, and physical AI. He also addressed competitive positioning and technology advantages.
Irving Tan, Chief Executive Officer of US storage device manufacturer Western Digital, recently participated in an interview on CNBC's financial program "The Exchange," engaging in a deep discussion with host Kelly Evans about the company's financial performance in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 and its views on the artificial intelligence infrastructure market. This interview took place following the release of the company's strong earnings report, providing investors and industry observers with a first-hand interpretation of current market dynamics from management.
According to the episode description, Tan focused on analyzing trends in AI-driven storage demand. He posited that AI is fundamentally a data system, where generating and storing more data is essential to powering it—a dynamic that directly drives Western Digital's business. Despite recent market volatility around AI infrastructure stocks raising concerns, Tan argued that this demand remains durable, projecting a 25% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years.
During the interview, Tan further broke down the four key drivers of storage demand he is watching: cloud growth, AI model training, inferencing and agentic AI systems, and the emerging opportunity in physical AI, which includes autonomous vehicles and robotics. These areas collectively form the basis for sustained demand for high-capacity storage devices.