Western Digital – Aerospace Parts Catalog

CAGE Codes:

Operating Segments: Electronics, Data Storage, Computer Technology

HQ: San Jose, California

About Western Digital

Western Digital is an American data storage company and manufacturer of hard disk drives. The company was founded in April 1970 by Alvin B. Phillips. It was initially called General Digital and operated as a manufacturer of MOS test equipment, quickly becoming a maker of specialized semiconductors. The company took the name Western Digital in 1971 and, soon after, released its first product, the WD1402A UART, a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter. By 1975, Western Digital was the largest independent producer of calculator chips, but the oil crisis of the time forced them to declare chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1976.

Much of the 1980s revolved around WD’s effort to become a general-purpose OEM hardware supplier for the computer industry. This led WD to purchase multiple hardware companies that manufactured parts such as graphics cards, core logic chipsets, SCSI controller chips, and tape devices. The company slowed down in the early 90s as the PC industry evolved, lessening the need for hard disk controller boards. In 1991, Western Digital launched the line of Caviar hard drives, a totally new design that used an embedded servo and computerized diagnostic systems. Western Digital partnered with IBM in 1998 in an agreement that allowed WD to use certain IBM technologies as well as their production facilities. The result was the line of Expert hard drives, a commercial success.

Portable storage like the USB flash drive was introduced to the public in 2000. The first flash drives stored up to 8 MB, more than five times the capacity of a floppy disc. As technology evolved, the cost of memory dropped below $1 per GB. Just 10 years prior, 1 GB cost about $20. In March of 2012, Western Digital completed its acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, solidifying WD as one of the largest data storage infrastructure companies in the world. The company has continued to grow, releasing powerful data storage technology on a consistent basis.

Products, Services, and Platforms

Products:

• Ultrastar Data60 Hybrid Storage Platform: This is a disaggregated storage and software-defined storage system. It is compact, efficient, and its form factor provides the flexibility to specify the HDD and SSD combinations for balancing capacity, performance and cost.
• Ultrastar NVMe Series: Solid-state drive that allows faster access to critical data in a dynamic business setting. It delivers high performance with low latency and high bandwidth.
• Embedded & Removable Flash: Western Digital provides a variety of embedded and removable flash drives for automotive, smart homes, industrial, smartphone/tablet, and surveillance applications.
• Internal Drives: Western Digital drives are tailored to enhance the speed, capacity, and performance of their function. WD internal drives have application throughout the gaming, enterprise, computing, network attached storage, and surveillance sectors.
• SanDisk: Under the SanDisk brand, Western Digital Offers mobile storage products, cards and readers, USB flash drives, and MP3 players.

Subsidiaries/Partners

Western Digital’s partners include other companies in the technology sector such as Broadcom, Intel, Microsemi, Microsoft, Oracle, Rubrik, and more.

Competitors

Western Digital’s competitors include companies such as Seagate, Toshiba, Micron, Samsung, Hitachi, and other tech companies.