Witten invests RMB 150 billion in Japan to develop next-generation HDD technology

To attack AI demand, Western Digital will invest 15 billion Japanese-yuan in Japan in the next five years and develop next-generation HDD technology. Wei Teng's stock price surged and hit a record high on the 1st.

The 2019 surged 8.77% and closed at $130.59, a record high in history. So far this year, Weiteng's stock price has been around 190%.

According to the news on the 1st, HDD Dragon Head Factory Viteng will invest US$1 billion (about 150 billion yen) in Japan during the five-year period ended in 2030, and strengthen its research and development. Weiteng CEO Irving Tan said in an interview with Japanese News that "the development of next-generation technology in Japan will be strengthened (HDD)". Irving said that compared with the past five years, "investment has increased significantly."

The report pointed out that in order to attack the rapidly expanding AI demand, Vientiane will promote HDD technology innovation. Wei Ting has a research and development site in Fujisa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Irving pointed out that "Japan is the largest research and development point, and most of the HDD-related technologies are born in Japan."

Reporting, with the popularity of generative AI, the demand for HDDs used to store data in data centers for a long time has increased. Irving said, "80% of the data center data center data is stored in HDD. (Compared with SSDs) its economic advantages and large capacity are not changed."

Wei Teng has production sites in China and Thailand. Regarding Trump's tax policy, Irving pointed out, "HDD is a semiconductor class and is not currently in the tax category. We export to the United States from Thailand and will work closely with the United States and Thailand authorities."

In the 1990s, there were about 40 HDD manufacturers. After several consolidation, there are currently three oligorises, including Weifeng, Seagate Technology and Toshiba's subsidiary Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage. Techno Systems Research, a research company, pointed out that in 2024, Weiteng HDD's global market share reached 40.8%, ranking first, Seagate's 40.1% and Dongzhi's 19.2%.