Western Digital during its Q4 FY2021 earnings report shed some light on the sales and prices of its HDD and SSD businesses. The quarter ending on the 1st of May recorded a revenue of 49.2 billion USD, an increase of 19% in quarterly revenue, and 15% compared to the same period the previous year. The storage manufacturer reported a net profit of 6.22 billion USD, an increase of 216% over the previous quarter and 320% YoY.
Western Digital’s two primary businesses include the NAND flash (SSD) and HDD divisions. The former recorded a revenue of $2.4 billion, an increase of 11% month-on-month and 8% year-on-year. This was driven by a mix of higher ASP (Average Selling Prices) and increased shipments, roughly 4% month-on-month, and an ASP growth of 4-7%.
Meanwhile, HDDs continued to account for roughly the same amount of the company’s revenue, bringing in 2.5 billion dollars for the quarter, an increase of 22% QoQ and 28% YoY. The ASPs saw a notable increase of 18%, reaching $97, the highest in the last five quarters. This can be attributed to an all-time high demand from both miners as well as data centers.
This shows that although SSDs are becoming more and more prominent, the company still has a notable reliance on traditional magnetic storage. Furthermore, the growth rate of SSDs has been quite a bit slower in the last 3-6 months than one might expect. Meanwhile, HDDs continue to grow both in terms of shipments as well as ASPs.
The last quarter, in particular, saw a riveting increase in revenue from HDDs, growing to a several-year high of $2.5 billion, even beating the NAND flash business. The revenue from SSDs grew from $2.175 billion to $2.419 billion, pulling in a final profit of $879 million. HDDs, on the other hand, reported a revenue of $2.5 billion (up from $1.96 billion the last quarter), with a final profit of $759 million.
