Toshiba plans to double AI data center hard drive production, Evercore comments

Analysts doubt Toshiba's planned $380M investment to double HDD production by 2027 will ease global supply shortages, citing reliance on external suppliers. Seagate and Western Digital shares fell 13% and 12% respectively, despite prior gains. Citi and LYNX Equity Strategies believe the move is more focused on domestic supply than global market share.

Western Digital (WDC) shares fell 13.8% to $398.51 after Toshiba announced plans to double HDD capacity, raising supply concerns. Options activity suggests hedging and crash protection. Analyst Asiya Merchant at Citi called the reaction overdone, citing Toshiba's reliance on suppliers. Rival Seagate (STX) also dropped 12.5%. Earnings are due later in October.

Western Digital and Seagate shares fell 13% and 15% respectively due to concerns over increased competition from Toshiba, which plans to double its hard-drive production capacity by FY 2027. Analysts have mixed views on the impact, with some seeing short-term stability and others noting medium-term risks. Seagate's products are primarily sold to data centers and cloud storage servers.

Western Digital (WDC) stock fell 13% pre-market Friday after Toshiba announced plans to increase HDD market share to 30% via a $380M investment in Philippine operations, aiming to double production capacity by FY2027. Toshiba also targets 65TB and 100TB HDDs by 2030. WDC's cloud business generated 89% of its $12.92B fiscal 2026 revenue, with top 10 customers accounting for 73% of sales.

Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate (STX) shares dropped 10% and 12% respectively after Nikkei reported Toshiba plans to double HDD production by 2027, investing $380M in the Philippines. Toshiba aims to increase market share from 10% to 30%. Both U.S. firms have seen significant stock gains due to AI-driven demand for data storage.

Seagate (STX) shares fell 12% to $835.82 after Toshiba announced plans to increase HDD production by fiscal 2027, raising competition concerns. GF Value™ suggests STX is overvalued at $825.71 vs. an intrinsic value of $194.40. STX has a GF Score™ of 77, with strong growth and profitability but weak valuation. Insiders sold $561.6M in shares over the past year.