Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Storage Innovation Driving AI Demand

We recently published a list of 10 AI News and Ratings You Should Not Miss. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) stands against other AI news and ratings you should not miss.

DeepSeek is making significant strides in the artificial intelligence landscape. It is known for its advanced capabilities as it competes with major players like OpenAI’s ChatGPT by offering highly specialized and dynamic AI models. It is part of a broader trend in China, with AI applications quickly developing beyond basic chatbots to more sophisticated functions.

DeepSeek’s potential impact spans many sectors, from national security to business operations. However, its development has raised national security concerns, especially regarding the handling of sensitive information and the risks of closed models. As AI continues to evolve, DeepSeek presents itself as a significant player in the ongoing global AI race.

At CNBC’s  ‘Closing Bell Overtime,’ Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital, discussed the launch of DeepSeek AI and its impact on national security. He views the rise of AI as a wake-up call for American innovation, emphasizing that U.S. companies should be allowed to compete freely in AI development, especially in defense.

Wolfe also highlighted the significance of open-source models like Huggingface and companies such as Together and Runway, which allow organizations to use their proprietary data securely. He expressed concerns over heavily funded closed models that lack proprietary data, stressing the potential risks they pose, especially in the context of AI and national security.

More Advancements from China

Chinese companies are quickly advancing AI technology, with products such as Baidu’s Wenku platform gaining millions of users and Tencent planning to integrate AI agents into WeChat. AI adoption is growing in China, with over 10% of businesses using generative AI, as per a CNBC report.

The development of AI applications is focused on specific functions and AI agents, which aim to automate processes. While Chinese companies face compliance challenges, local AI applications are becoming popular both in China and abroad, an example would be Alibaba’s AI-powered search engine, Accio.

As China accelerates its AI innovations and adoption, the competition is intensifying, with both local and global implications. Moving forward, the balance between open-source advancements and the regulation of AI technologies will be crucial in shaping the future of this transformative field.

For this article, we selected AI stocks by reviewing news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 hedge funds.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Storage Innovation Driving AI Demand

A data center filled with racks of hard disk drives and solid state drives.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) makes and sells data storage devices for different applications, including personal, enterprise, and consumer use. On January 30, TipRanks reported that Citi’s Asiya Merchant kept a Buy rating on Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) with an $80 price target.

Strong demand for high-capacity HDDs, driven by supply constraints and long lead times, supports the company’s valuation. Although the flash business faces short-term weakness due to slow consumer device growth and inventory adjustments, conditions are expected to improve by spring. AI-driven demand and stabilizing NAND prices also signal potential recovery, which reinforces confidence in Western Digital’s (NASDAQ:WDC) outlook.

Overall, WDC ranks 3rd on our list of AI news and ratings you should not miss. While we acknowledge the potential of WDC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WDC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.