Western Digital: HAMR drives to reach ~30% of nearline HDD shipments by fiscal Q2, 50% by Q3

The significance here is less about HAMR as a headline technology than about how quickly Western Digital expects it to become the default nearline format — a roughly 30% to 50% shipment mix in a single quarter implies a steep ramp rather than a gradual pilot. That matters for anyone tracking storage supply economics, since nearline drives underpin data-center capacity buildouts and the pace of areal-density transitions shapes cost curves. The open question is whether the calendar 2027 shipment start holds, given how much of the mix shift is projected before that window closes.