Western Digital Rides AI Rally... Executives Including CEO Sell Company Shares Worth Billions

At data storage company Western Digital Corporation (WDC), CEO Irving Tan sold tens of thousands of shares on February 2 (local time) under a pre-established Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, generating about $6.2 million (roughly KRW 8.4 billion) in cash, while still retaining equity worth around KRW 200 billion. In the same week—on February 5 and 6—other executives, including the general counsel, also executed open-market sales, offloading shares valued at several billion won each and totaling nearly $100 million (about KRW 140 billion), yet they too maintain substantial remaining stakes.

On February 3 at its “Innovation Day” in New York, the company laid out an aggressive growth and shareholder-return strategy driven by rising AI and cloud demand, forecasting more than 20 percent annual revenue growth and long-term margins above 50 percent. It also approved an additional $4 billion share-repurchase program. Following the event and related technology announcements, WDC’s stock price jumped sharply, marking it as a go-to play for AI-driven data storage.

Western Digital, a leading U.S. data-storage device maker centered on HDDs for hyperscale cloud and enterprise storage markets, completed its business reorganization in 2025 by spinning off its flash business into the SanDisk subsidiary. With AI adoption fueling surging demand for high-capacity, low-cost storage, the company is targeting long-term growth through large-capacity HDDs and a new technology roadmap.