Western Digital’s New Embedded Flash Platform Provides Essential Foundation for the Next Wave of Smart, Connected Mobile Technologies

Company’s Vertical Integration Capabilities Enable Development of Purpose-Built UFS 3.1 Solutions to Address Expanding Opportunities in Mobility

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At its Flash Perspective Event today, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) announced its new embedded flash platform for Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 3.1 to enable new applications in mobile, automotive, IoT, AR/VR, drones and other emerging segments that are reshaping the way we live, work and play.

In an increasingly mobile world of always on, always connected and always available, Western Digital’s unique UFS 3.1 platform, based on the JEDEC-compliant UFS 3.1 specification, provides the speed, reliability and feature versatility that customers count on to build small, thin and lightweight solutions. Leveraging its vertical integration capability to optimize NAND, firmware, controller design, software and drivers, Western Digital can efficiently design purpose-built solutions for a variety of markets including mobile, IoT, automotive, and more – all leveraging a common UFS 3.1 architecture. Setting a new benchmark, this new platform is expected to deliver up to 90% improvement in sequential write performance, compared to its previous generation. This improvement will help realize 5G and Wi-Fi 6 download speed potential, delivering a better experience when consuming rich media files such as 8K video, as well as improved performance for applications such as burst mode photography.

“We are just scratching the surface today on what services, technologies and devices will be built around mobility, but one thing is clear, flash storage is central to their success,” said Huibert Verhoeven, senior vice president of Automotive, Mobile and Emerging, Flash Business, Western Digital. “With our new UFS 3.1 platform, we are opening up new opportunities that never could have existed before, and we are thrilled to continue our collaboration with our customers to help them design, differentiate and add value to their solutions.”

Western Digital has developed products based on this platform, starting with its new family for mobile and consumer applications, and is working with its hardware ecosystem partners to enable it on their upcoming solutions. The company expects to deliver products to market in 2H2021.

About Western Digital

Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. As a leader in data infrastructure, the company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities of data. Western Digital data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, G-Technology™, SanDisk® and WD® brands.

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