Western Digital 2008 Annual Report Download - page 5

We have made and continue to make signifi cant investments in
the technologies and infrastructure that will enhance our ability
to keep on diversifying the business and compete as a full-line
industry leader. We will do so with the product portfolio required
to capitalize on the growth trends across all markets and with the
capacity and cost structure to do so effi ciently and profi tably. There
were several tangible examples of return on these investments in
fi scal 2008:
• We achieved the industry-leading technology position in both
2.5-inch notebook and 3.5-inch desktop PC markets;
• Utilizing our GreenPower™ technology, we launched a family of
hard drives specifi cally designed to consume substantially less
power than standard drives;
• We began shipping our new line of WD Scorpio® Black™
7200 RPM 2.5-inch SATA hard drives in capacities up to
320 GB for high-performance notebook computers, expanding
our available market in the 2.5-inch sector; and
• We completed the rollout of the popular My Passport™ series of
portable hard drives with a refreshed design in multiple colors
and we began shipping many other new and next-generation
branded products, addressing higher capacity points, Mac®
users, solutions for data backup, and the growing recording
capacity needs of digital video recorder (DVR) users.
We have also added to our design and development capabilities
with signifi cant expansion of our technical workforce in Lake
Forest, San Jose, and Asia, the addition of a new design center
in Longmont, Colorado, and the acquisition of the hard drive
controller intellectual property rights, design tools and design
team from STMicroelectronics. This in-house hard drive controller
capability will enhance the effi ciencies of our development
process with close engagement from industry system-on-chip and
channel suppliers. Our previously announced plan to upgrade
and expand our Fremont wafer facility is on track and we have
already produced the fi rst wafers from our new 8-inch pilot line,
ahead of schedule.
We are pleased with WD’s continued profi table growth and we
remain focused on a strategy to build a company that will thrive
in the very attractive storage industry in the years to come. We
are confi dent in our ability to continue competing successfully
and we look forward to applying WD’s operational excellence,
disciplined business model and the WD team values of passion,
action, productivity, perseverance, innovation, and integrity in order
to drive continued profi table growth for WD and to create value for
our shareholders.
John F. Coyne
President and Chief Executive Offi cer
September 23, 2008
2.5-INCH DRIVE SHIPMENTS
Amounts in millions
1.0
36.6
12.3
5.4
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008
WD tripled 2.5-inch drive shipments year-over-year to
36.6 million, demonstrating technology and product
leadership throughout the year.
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
Dollars in millions
$2,696
$1,716
$1,157
$700
$487
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008
WD’s long-term, sustained profi tability has resulted
in $2.7 billion of shareholders’ equity.
CASH and CASH EQUIVALENTS
Dollars in millions
$485
$551
$700
$1,104
$346
$0
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008
WD ended fi scal 2008 with $1.1 billion of cash and
cash equivalents, an increase of over $400 million
from the prior year.