(Reuters) - Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, signaling a slower-than-expected recovery in the company's data storage products.
The AI boom has helped some memory chipmakers such as Micron (NASDAQ:MU) technology in the middle of a steep industry downturn, but the demand for chips used in conventional data centers continues to fall, hurting memory chip companies like WDC.
Shares of the company were down 4.2% in extended trading.
The data storage products maker expects first-quarter revenue in the range $4 billion to $4.20 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $4.22 billion, according to LSEG data.
It sees adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.55 to $1.85, compared with estimates of $1.74.
Western Digital's fourth-quarter revenue stood at $3.76 billion beating analysts' average expectations of $3.74 billion.
The adjusted profit per share came in at 88 cents, compared with estimates of $1.17.
Revenue of the company's flash memory business which is expected to operate separately from its traditional hard disk drive unit by the second half of 2024, rose nearly 28% to $1.76 billion.
Rival Seagate Technology forecast upbeat revenue for its first quarter last week, driven by increased demand for memory chips from personal computing and data center clients.