Supply Challenges ‘Definitely Broadened,’ Says Western Digital CEO

Though semiconductor supply is the big unknown, Western Digital sees the total addressable market in PCs as “good next year,” said CEO David Goeckeler on an investor call Thursday for fiscal Q1 ended Oct. 1. “We're obviously coming off of a blockbuster year” for PC demand with COVID-19, he said. The pre-pandemic “baseline” for PC shipments was around 270 million units a year globally, he said. That’s expected to go up to 340 million this year, and about 335 million next year, he said. “We're hearing that from our customers. We're talking to those customers now about 2022 plans and what they plan to do, and how much supply they're going to need.” The supply chain challenges in the December quarter are expected to be “a little more challenging than what we saw in September, and the September quarter was not easy,” said Chief Financial Officer Robert Eulau. “It's a challenge that's not going to go away soon in terms of the semiconductor availability.” The scarcity in chip supply “has definitely broadened” from a few months ago, said Goeckeler. It started with some PC makers, and now, “we're hearing more about it in other segments, including the big data center providers,” he said.The stock closed 8.7% lower Friday at $52.29.