New York, February 5, 2026, 11:03 EST — Regular session.
- Western Digital shares fell roughly 2.5% in early trading, following a 7% plunge on Wednesday.
- The company unveiled a fresh $4 billion share buyback and rolled out a new hard-drive roadmap tailored for the AI era.
- CEO Irving Tan revealed in an SEC filing that he intends to sell 20,000 shares as part of a predetermined trading plan.
Shares of Western Digital Corporation dropped 2.5% to $262.68 in morning trading Thursday, after fluctuating between $251.76 and $273.20 earlier. The stock had closed at $269.41 previously.
These developments are significant as Western Digital now serves as a high-beta stand-in for AI infrastructure spending, where data must be stored prior to use. When the market pivots from “buildout” to “budget,” storage stocks often react sharply.
This week, the spotlight has shifted away from broad tech and onto whether Western Digital can sustain capacity growth while returning cash to shareholders. That balance is attracting both short-term traders and longer-term investors, and it’s evident in the tape.
On Tuesday, the company announced its board has greenlit an extra $4.0 billion for share buybacks, adding to roughly $484 million left from an earlier authorization. The fresh approval kicks in right away. CEO Irving Tan described the expanded repurchase as a sign of “our confidence in WD’s future.” 1
At its Innovation Day event in New York, the company now calling itself WD unveiled a roadmap for hard drives topping 100 terabytes aimed at AI data centers. It also revealed a 40-terabyte drive already in customer qualification. Ed Burns, IDC’s HDD research director, noted that “customers are deploying these solutions because WD is solving what matters most for AI infrastructure: reliable capacity at scale.” 2
A regulatory filing dated Wednesday revealed that Tan sold 20,000 shares on Feb. 2, pulling in around $5.1 million. The weighted-average prices ranged from approximately $242 to $263 per share. According to the filing, these transactions occurred under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, which allows insiders to sell shares following pre-set instructions. 3
Western Digital plunged 7.18% on Wednesday to close at $269.41, after scaling a 52-week peak of $296.50 just the day before, according to MarketWatch. Seagate Technology also fell, dropping 5.81%, while NetApp bucked the trend with a 5.28% gain. WDC’s trading volume surged to 14.7 million shares, well above its 50-day average of 8.9 million. 4
That said, the new buyback isn’t a guarantee: the company could slow or stop repurchases altogether. The storage cycle can shift fast if major cloud clients cut back or push for lower prices. Plus, the tech roadmap hinges on customers adopting next-gen drives promptly and broadly, while competitors vie for those same data-center dollars.
Investors are pressing for clear evidence of buyback execution and updates on customer qualification for the new high-capacity drives. The company’s next earnings report, due April 29, will be the next major test, according to Zacks. 5
