Western Digital Corp. (Nasdaq: WDC) today reported fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 financial results. "I am extremely proud of the outstanding execution our team exhibited as we achieved another quarter of strong revenue, gross margin and EPS results above expectations," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "Throughout this fiscal year, we successfully delivered both flash and hard drive innovations that are essential building blocks in the acceleration of the data economy. This innovation, combined with our broad channels to market, diverse end market exposure and improved operational efficiency, enabled us to successfully navigate through the pandemic and capitalize on strategic growth opportunities. We believe we have the right foundation for success - the right products, the right customer base, and the unique ability to address two very large and growing markets."Release Summary

• Fourth quarter revenue was $4.9 billion, up 15% year-over-year (YoY). Client Devices revenue increased 13%, Data Center Devices and Solutions revenue increased 6%, and Client Solutions revenue increased 42% YoY. Fiscal year 2021 revenue was $16.9 billion, up 1% YoY.
• Fourth quarter GAAP earnings per share (EPS) was $1.97 and non-GAAP EPS was $2.16. Fiscal year 2021 GAAP EPS was $2.66 and non-GAAP EPS was $4.55.
• Generated operating cash flow of $994 million and free cash flow of $792 million in the fourth quarter. Generated operating cash flow of $1.9 billion and free cash flow of $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2021.
• Expecting fiscal first quarter 2022 revenue to be in the range of $4.90 billion to $5.10 billion with non-GAAP EPS in the range of $2.25 to $2.55.

In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2021, Western Digital's revenue increased 19% quarter-over-quarter and 15% year-over-year to $4.9 billion. The company's improving execution and unique ability to shift bits across broad routes to diverse markets enabled growth in revenue and gross margin and drove strong free cash flow.

Client Devices experienced broad-based strength across nearly every product category on a sequential basis. Contributing to this momentum was better than expected demand for notebook and desktop HDDs, as well as flash-based solutions. In addition, there was robust demand for gaming, smart video, automotive, and industrial applications.

In Data Center Devices & Solutions, Western Digital achieved a record shipment of over 104 exabytes in capacity enterprise hard drives, highlighting the importance of these products to datacenter customers. The 18-terabyte energy-assisted hard drive was the leading capacity point and comprised nearly half of Western Digital's capacity enterprise shipments. Enterprise SSD demand strengthened as the company completed a qualification at another cloud titan and is now ramping the product more broadly.

Client Solutions experienced greater than seasonal demand resulting in sequential growth for both HDD and flash-based solutions. Despite the uneven reopening of economies around the world, the company was able to drive growth in both revenue and gross margin due to the breadth of its portfolio and many routes to market.