As artificial intelligence systems scale at an unprecedented pace, the infrastructure supporting them is coming under increasing scrutiny—not just for performance, but for sustainability. Western Digital’s (WD) FY2025 Annual Sustainability Report positions the company at the intersection of these two imperatives, outlining how it is reengineering storage infrastructure to meet the dual demands of AI growth and environmental responsibility.
At the heart of the challenge lies a simple reality: AI runs on data, and data requires storage—lots of it. As data volumes surge, so does the energy footprint of the infrastructure that houses it. WD’s response is rooted in efficiency at scale. By advancing high-density HDD technologies and improving energy efficiency per terabyte, the company aims to enable hyperscalers and enterprises to expand AI workloads without proportionally increasing their environmental impact.
WD’s strategy goes beyond product innovation. The company is actively working to decarbonize the broader AI value chain, tackling emissions, resource consumption, and waste across operations and supply networks. In FY2025, this translated into tangible progress. Five of WD’s global sites now operate on 100% carbon-free energy, contributing to an overall 66% renewable energy usage across its operations. This marks steady movement toward its goal of achieving carbon-free energy globally by FY2030.
Equally significant is the company’s progress in reducing downstream emissions. Since FY2020, WD has cut emissions intensity in the use of its products by 31% on a per-petabyte basis—an important metric for customers managing the environmental cost of large-scale data storage. This aligns with a broader industry shift where infrastructure providers are expected to deliver not just capacity, but sustainability gains.
Circularity has emerged as another key pillar of WD’s approach. The company has set ambitious targets to increase recycled content in its enterprise HDD products to 43% and in packaging to 72% by 2030. Notably, it is already close to achieving these goals, having reached up to 38% recycled content in products and surpassing its packaging target at 74% in FY2025. This early progress signals a shift from intent to execution in sustainable design practices.
WD is also addressing one of the most overlooked aspects of hardware sustainability: material recovery. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the U.S., the company collaborated with Microsoft and recycling partners to recover rare earth materials from decommissioned hard drives. The pilot program achieved a 90% recovery rate—an important milestone in reducing e-waste and securing critical materials for future use. The initiative has already earned industry recognition, including an Environment + Energy Leader Award.
Supply chain emissions, often the largest contributor to a technology company’s carbon footprint, are another area of focus. WD has introduced a new goal to reduce direct materials emissions by 20% by FY2030 (from a FY2024 baseline), alongside expanded supplier engagement efforts aimed at building decarbonization capabilities across its ecosystem.
Transparency and governance also feature prominently in the report. WD published its FY2025 Climate Risk Report, detailing its approach to climate-related risks and embedding these considerations into its enterprise risk management framework. The company’s efforts have not gone unnoticed—it earned a CDP “A-” rating for climate performance and was recognized among Newsweek’s America’s Greenest Companies 2026. Additionally, WD was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for the eighth consecutive year.
Jackie Jung, WD’s newly appointed Chief Sustainability Officer, underscored the company’s philosophy: the goal is not just to store more data, but to do so responsibly. As AI continues to reshape industries, the sustainability of its underlying infrastructure will increasingly define its long-term viability.
WD’s FY2025 report reflects a broader industry inflection point. As AI adoption accelerates, the spotlight is shifting from raw capability to responsible scalability. In that context, storage—often seen as a passive layer—has become a critical lever for driving both performance and sustainability in the AI-driven data economy.