Innovation at Western Digital

Western Digital is a leading innovator in the data storage industry. Our innovation and technologies impact the lives of billions of people every day.

Our Technical Focus Areas

We work on cutting edge technologies across the following four main technical areas along with a variety of smaller technical domains.

Open Source

Western Digital believes in the value of open source as a user and contributor. Whether as a founder, member, or supporter, we work with the ecosystem partners and wider community to foster open source.

Zoned Storage

ZNS SSDs and SMR HDDs provide cost effective scale for data centers and cloud providers.

Machine Learning and AI

Edge-based solutions for machine learning inferencing, video transcoding and custom acceleration.

Non-Volatile Memory

Innovation in non-volatile memory with low latency powered by cutting edge materials and device research at nanoscale.

Our Contribution to the Academic Community

Technical Publications

Our technical publications focus on the development of materials, processes and devices directed toward memory cell technology encompassing current and future methods of storing information.

We also publish on the development and investigation of systems, software and next generation techniques related to how to efficiently store, secure and use data on both storage devices and data centers, as well as how value is extracted from data.

Academic Collaborations

We believe academia is an origin of new discoveries and we contribute to the academic community by generating new ideas, devising inventions, funding research projects, and exploring the unknown together.

We collaborate with both academic organizations and industry ecosystem partners in certain research areas to gain new knowledge. We apply this knowledge in new solutions and products to benefit the lives of billions of people.