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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
  
FORM 10-Q
  
(Mark One)
ýQUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the quarterly period ended April 1,December 30, 2016
Or
¨oTRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from                     to                     
Commission file number: 1-8703
  

wdcorporatelogo.jpg
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
  
Delaware33-0956711
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
  
3355 Michelson Drive, Suite 100
Irvine,5601 Great Oaks Parkway
San Jose, California
9261295119
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (949) 672-7000(408) 717-6000

3355 Michelson Drive, Suite 100, Irvine, California 92612
(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)
  
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ý    No  ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filerýAccelerated filer¨
Non-accelerated filer
¨  (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
Smaller reporting company¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨    No  ý
As of the close of business on May 4, 2016, 232,996,715February 3, 2017, 288,070,433 shares of common stock, par value $.01$0.01 per share, were outstanding.


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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
INDEX

 PAGE NO.
  
Financial Statements (unaudited)
 
 
 
 
of Cash Flow —Six Months Ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016
 Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 4.Controls and Procedures
  
 
Item 1.Legal Proceedings
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Item 3.
Defaults Upon Senior Securities
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures
5.Other Information
Item 6.Exhibits

Unless otherwise indicated, references herein to specific years and quarters are to our fiscal years and fiscal quarters, and references to financial information are on a consolidated basis. As used herein, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company,” “WDC” and “Western Digital” refer to Western Digital Corporation and its subsidiaries, unless we state, or the context indicates, otherwise.

WDC, a Delaware corporation, is the parent company of our data storage business. Our principal executive offices are located at 3355 Michelson Drive, Suite 100, Irvine,5601 Great Oaks Parkway, San Jose, California 92612.95119. Our telephone number is (949) 672-7000(408) 717-6000, and our website is www.westerndigital.com. The information on our website is not incorporated in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Western Digital, WD, and the WD logo and SanDisk are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc.or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or its affiliates.other countries. All other trademarks, mentionedregistered trademarks and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners.


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Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any statements that do not relate to historical or current facts or matters are forward-looking statements. You can identify some of the forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words, such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “potential,” “plan,” “forecast,” and the like, or the use of future tense. Statements concerning current conditions may also be forward-looking if they imply a continuation of current conditions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning:

expectations concerning the anticipated benefits of our acquisition of SanDisk Corporation;
expectations regarding the integration of our HGST and WD subsidiaries following the decision by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China in October 2015;
expectations regarding our business strategy, our ability to execute that strategy and its intended benefits;
our plans to develop and invest in new products and expand into new storage markets and into emerging economic markets;
our quarterly cash dividend policy;
expectations regarding the outcome of legal proceedings in which we are involved;
expectations regarding the repatriation of funds from our foreign operations;
our beliefs regarding tax benefits and the timing of future payments, if any, relating to the unrecognized tax benefits, and the adequacy of our tax provisions;
expectations regarding capital investments and sources of funding for those investments; and
our beliefs regarding the sufficiency of our available liquidity to meet our working capital, debt, dividend and capital expenditure needs.

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review the disclosures we make concerning risks and other factors that may affect our business and operating results, including those made in Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and any of those made in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to publish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.


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PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1.
Financial Statements (unaudited)
Item 1.FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in millions, except par values; unaudited)value)
(Unaudited)
 
April 1,
2016
 July 3,
2015
December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
ASSETS
Current assets:      
Cash and cash equivalents$5,887
 $5,024
$4,940
 $8,151
Short-term investments146
 262
161
 227
Accounts receivable, net1,254
 1,532
2,004
 1,461
Inventories1,227
 1,368
2,085
 2,129
Other current assets226
 331
416
 616
Total current assets8,740
 8,517
9,606
 12,584
Property, plant and equipment, net2,687
 2,965
3,238
 3,503
Notes receivable and investments in Flash Ventures1,082
 1,171
Goodwill2,766
 2,766
10,005
 9,951
Other intangible assets, net268
 332
4,469
 5,034
Other non-current assets486
 601
575
 619
Total assets$14,947
 $15,181
$28,975
 $32,862
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:      
Accounts payable$1,571
 $1,881
$2,012
 $1,888
Accounts payable to related parties175
 168
Accrued expenses579
 470
1,001
 995
Accrued compensation282
 330
581
 392
Accrued warranty146
 150
190
 172
Revolving credit facility
 255
Bridge loan
 2,995
Current portion of long-term debt203
 156
129
 339
Total current liabilities2,781
 3,242
4,088
 6,949
Long-term debt2,000
 2,156
12,944
 13,660
Other liabilities557
 564
1,211
 1,108
Total liabilities5,338
 5,962
18,243
 21,717
Commitments and contingencies (Notes 4, 5 and 6)
 
Commitments and contingencies (Notes 6, 8, 10 and 14)
 
Shareholders’ equity:      
Preferred stock, $.01 par value; authorized — 5 shares; issued and outstanding — none
 
Common stock, $.01 par value; authorized — 450 shares; issued — 261 shares; outstanding — 233 and 230 shares, respectively3
 3
Preferred stock, $0.01 par value; authorized — 5 shares; issued and outstanding — none
 
Common stock, $0.01 par value; authorized — 450 shares; issued — 312 shares; outstanding — 288 shares and 284 shares, respectively3
 3
Additional paid-in capital2,454
 2,428
4,574
 4,429
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)32
 (20)(197) 103
Retained earnings9,363
 9,107
8,411
 8,848
Treasury stock — common shares at cost; 28 and 31 shares, respectively(2,243) (2,299)
Treasury stock — common shares at cost; 24 shares and 28 shares, respectively(2,059) (2,238)
Total shareholders’ equity9,609
 9,219
10,732
 11,145
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity$14,947
 $15,181
$28,975
 $32,862
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOMEOPERATIONS
(in millions, except per share amounts; unaudited)amounts)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended Nine Months EndedThree Months Ended Six Months Ended
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
Revenue, net$2,822
 $3,550
 $9,499
 $11,381
$4,888
 $3,317
 $9,602
 $6,677
Cost of revenue2,069
 2,518
 6,885
 8,090
3,355
 2,411
 6,734
 4,816
Gross profit753
 1,032
 2,614
 3,291
1,533
 906
 2,868
 1,861
Operating expenses:              
Research and development359
 402
 1,133
 1,265
585
 389
 1,224
 774
Selling, general and administrative166
 199
 565
 583
358
 239
 754
 431
Charges related to arbitration award
 
 32
 15
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges140
 10
 223
 72
45
 27
 113
 83
Total operating expenses665
 611
 1,953
 1,935
988
 655
 2,091
 1,288
Operating income88
 421
 661
 1,356
545
 251
 777
 573
Other income (expense):       
Interest and other income6
 3
 17
 11
Interest and other expense(14) (12) (40) (37)
Total other expense, net(8) (9) (23) (26)
Income before income taxes80
 412
 638
 1,330
Income tax expense6
 28
 30
 85
Net income$74
 $384
 $608
 $1,245
Income per common share:       
Interest and other income (expense):       
Interest income5
 5
 10
 9
Interest expense(205) (13) (441) (26)
Other income (expense), net(24) 1
 (296) 2
Total interest and other expense, net(224) (7) (727) (15)
Income before taxes321
 244
 50
 558
Income tax expense (benefit)86
 (7) 181
 24
Net income (loss)$235
 $251
 $(131) $534
Income (loss) per common share       
Basic$0.32
 $1.66
 $2.62
 $5.34
$0.82
 $1.08
 $(0.46) $2.31
Diluted$0.32
 $1.63
 $2.60
 $5.23
$0.80
 $1.07
 $(0.46) $2.28
Weighted average shares outstanding:              
Basic233
 231
 232
 233
286
 232
 285
 231
Diluted234
 236
 234
 238
294
 234
 285
 234
       
Cash dividends declared per share$0.50
 $0.50
 $1.50
 $1.30
$0.50
 $0.50
 $1.00
 $1.00
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)
(in millions; unaudited)millions)
(Unaudited)
 Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
Net income$74
 $384
 $608
 $1,245
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:       
Net unrealized gain (loss) on foreign exchange contracts39
 29
 52
 (15)
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax39
 29
 52
 (15)
Total comprehensive income$113
 $413
 $660
 $1,230
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
Net income (loss)$235
 $251
 $(131) $534
Other comprehensive income (loss), before tax:       
Actuarial pension gain1
 
 6
 
Foreign currency translation adjustment(186) 
 (169) 
Net unrealized gain (loss) on foreign exchange contracts(136) 38
 (140) 13
Net unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities
 (2) 
 (1)
Total other comprehensive income (loss), before tax(321) 36
 (303) 12
Income tax benefit related to items of other comprehensive income (loss), before tax9
 
 3
 
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax(312) 36
 (300) 12
Total comprehensive income (loss)$(77) $287
 $(431) $546
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(in millions; unaudited)millions)
(Unaudited)
Nine Months EndedSix Months Ended
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
Operating Activities   
Net income$608
 $1,245
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operations:   
Cash flows from operating activities   
Net income (loss)$(131) $534
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operations:   
Depreciation and amortization734
 864
1,022
 488
Stock-based compensation121
 117
201
 79
Deferred income taxes(17) 9
117
 15
Gain from insurance recovery
 (37)
Loss on disposal of assets13
 14
10
 6
Write-off of issuance costs and amortization of debt discounts258
 2
Loss on settlement of convertible debt5
 
Non-cash portion of employee termination, asset impairment and other charges36
 12
13
 18
Other non-cash operating activities, net42
 
Changes in:      
Accounts receivable, net278
 294
(540) (118)
Inventories138
 (96)52
 127
Accounts payable(301) 8
180
 (58)
Accrued arbitration award
 (758)
Accounts payable to related parties6
 
Accrued expenses137
 83
59
 35
Accrued compensation(68) (63)194
 (15)
Other assets and liabilities, net(51) 62
12
 30
Net cash provided by operating activities1,628
 1,754
Investing Activities   
Net cash provided by operations1,500
 1,143
Cash flows from investing activities   
Purchases of property, plant and equipment(433) (456)(330) (300)
Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment
 7
Proceeds from sales and maturities of investments907
 665
Proceeds from the sale of equipment1
 
Purchases of investments(462) (687)(239) (408)
Acquisitions, net of cash acquired
 (247)
Other investing activities, net(23) 6
Proceeds from sale of investments55
 266
Proceeds from maturities of investments279
 
Investments in Flash Ventures(20) 
Notes receivable issuances to Flash Ventures(309) 
Notes receivable proceeds from Flash Ventures259
 
Strategic investments and other, net(12) (12)
Net cash used in investing activities(11) (712)(316) (454)
Financing Activities   
Cash flows from financing activities   
Issuance of stock under employee stock plans64
 146
90
 54
Taxes paid on vested stock awards under employee stock plans(45) (61)(40) (44)
Excess tax benefits from employee stock plans(2) 27
56
 (6)
Proceeds from acquired call option61
 
Repurchases of common stock(60) (772)
 (60)
Dividends paid to shareholders(347) (280)(284) (231)
Repayment of revolving credit facility(255) 
Repayment of long-term debt(109) (94)
Repayment of debt(8,254) (63)
Proceeds from debt3,992
 
Debt issuance costs(7) 
Net cash used in financing activities(754) (1,034)(4,386) (350)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents863
 8
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period5,024
 4,804
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash(9) 
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents(3,211) 339
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year8,151
 5,024
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period$5,887
 $4,812
$4,940
 $5,363
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:      
Cash paid for income taxes$38
 $39
$43
 $21
Cash paid for interest$33
 $33
$299
 $22
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash financing activities:   
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities:   
Accrual of cash dividend declared$116
 $116
$144
 $116
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited)(Unaudited)
1.
Note 1.
Basis of Presentation

Western Digital Corporation (the “Company” or “Western Digital”) is a leading developer, manufacturer and provider of Presentationdata storage devices and solutions that address the needs of the information technology industry and the infrastructure that enables the storage of data. The Company also generates license and royalty revenue related to its intellectual property.

The accounting policies followed by Western Digital Corporation (the “Company”)the Company are set forth in Part II, Item 8, Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 3, 2015.1, 2016. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary to fairly state the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been made. All such adjustments are of a normal, recurring nature. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in the consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 3, 2015.1, 2016. The results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for the full year.

Fiscal Year

The Company'sCompany’s fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest to June 30 and typically consists of 52 weeks. Approximately every six years, the Company reports a 53-weekFiscal year 2017, which ends on June 30, 2017, and fiscal year to align its fiscal year with the foregoing policy. The Company's fiscal third quarters2016, which ended Aprilon July 1, 2016, and April 3, 2015are both consisted of 13 weeks. The nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015 consisted of 39 and 40 weeks, respectively. Fiscal 2016 will be comprised of 52 weeks, with all quarters presented consisting of 13 weeks.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and will end on July 1, 2016. Fiscalcondensed consolidated statements of cash flows to conform to the current year 2015 was comprisedpresentation.

Use of 53 weeks and ended on July 3, 2015.Estimates

Company management has made estimates and assumptions relating to the reporting of certain assets and liabilities in conformity with U.S. GAAP. These estimates and assumptions have been applied using methodologies that are consistent throughout the periods presented. However, actual results could differ materially from these estimates.

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2. WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 2.Accounting Changes and Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted

In April 2015, the Financial Accounting Standard Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2015-05, “Intangibles — Goodwill and Other — Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40)” (“ASU 2015-05”), which provides guidance to customers about whether a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license. If a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, the customer should account for the software license element of the arrangement consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. If a cloud computing arrangement does not include a software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. The Company’s adoption of ASU 2015-05 at the beginning of the current year did not have a material impact on its condensed consolidated financial statements.

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 3.Supplemental Financial Statement Data

Accounts Receivablereceivables

From time to time, in connection with a factoring agreement,agreements, the Company sells trade accounts receivable without recourse to a third party purchaserpurchasers in exchange for cash. During the three and ninesix months ended AprilDecember 30, 2016 and the three months ended January 1, 2016, the Company did not sell any trade accounts receivables. During the six months ended January 1, 2016, the Company sold trade accounts receivable and received cash proceeds of $35 million and $235 million, respectively. During both the three and nine months ended April 3, 2015, the Company sold trade accounts receivable and received cash proceeds of $67$200 million. The discounts on the sales of trade accounts receivablereceivables sold during the six months ended January 1, 2016 were not material and were recorded within interest and other expenseOther income (expense), net in the condensed consolidated statements of income.operations.
Inventories;
Inventories
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Inventories:   
Raw materials and component parts$586
 $569
Work-in-process617
 589
Finished goods882
 971
Total inventories$2,085
 $2,129

Property, Plant and Equipment;Equipment
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Property, plant and equipment:   
Land and buildings$1,871
 $1,900
Machinery and equipment7,064
 6,915
Software174
 155
Furniture and fixtures52
 110
Leasehold improvements314
 307
Construction-in-process119
 245
Property, plant and equipment, gross9,594
 9,632
Accumulated depreciation(6,356) (6,129)
Property, plant and equipment, net$3,238
 $3,503

Goodwill
 Carrying Amount
 (in millions)
Balance at July 1, 2016$9,951
Purchase price adjustments to goodwill60
Foreign currency translation adjustment(6)
Balance at December 30, 2016$10,005

The purchase price adjustments resulted from adjustments to the assessment of fair value for certain acquired intangible assets; inventory; property, plant and Other equipment; and a portion of the deferred tax liability related to the acquisition of SanDisk Corporation (“SanDisk”).

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)


Intangible Assets
 April 1,
2016
 July 3,
2015
 (in millions)
Inventories:   
Raw materials and component parts$132
 $168
Work-in-process440
 500
Finished goods655
 700
Total inventories$1,227
 $1,368
Property, plant and equipment:   
Property, plant and equipment$8,778
 $8,604
Accumulated depreciation(6,091) (5,639)
Property, plant and equipment, net$2,687
 $2,965
Other intangible assets:   
Other intangible assets$1,018
 $1,008
Accumulated amortization(750) (676)
Other intangible assets, net$268
 $332
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Finite-lived intangible assets$5,203
 $3,539
In-process research and development695
 2,435
Accumulated amortization(1,429) (940)
Intangible assets, net$4,469
 $5,034

Warranty
The Company recordsAcquired in-process research and development (“IPR&D”) is accounted for as an accrual for estimated warranty costs when revenueindefinite-lived intangible asset. Upon completion of development, IPR&D is recognized. The Company generally warrants its products for a period of oneconsidered to five years. The warranty provision considers estimated product failure rates and trends, estimated replacement costs, estimated repair costs which include scrap costs and estimated costs for customer compensatory claims related to product quality issues, if any. A statistical warranty tracking model is used to help prepare estimates and assistbe an amortizable finite-lived intangible asset. During the three months ended December 30, 2016, the Company in exercising judgment in determining the underlying estimates. The statistical tracking model captures specific detail on product reliability, such as factory test data, historical field return ratesreclassified $1.7 billion of acquired IPR&D to existing technology and costs to repair by product type. Management’s judgment is subject to a greater degreecommenced amortization over an estimated useful life of subjectivity with respect to newly introduced products because of limited field experience with those products upon which to base warranty estimates. Management reviews the warranty accrual quarterly for products shipped in prior periods and which are still under warranty. Any changes in the estimates underlying the accrual may result in adjustments that impact current period gross profit and income. Such changes are generally a result of differences between forecasted and actual return rate experience and costs to repair. If actual product return trends, costs to repair returned products or costs of customer compensatory claims differ significantly from estimates, future results of operations could be materially affected. 4 years.

Product Warranty Liability

Changes in the warranty accrual were as follows (in millions):follows:
Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
Three Months Ended Nine Months EndedDecember 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
(in millions)
Warranty accrual, beginning of period$225
 $222
 $221
 $182
$277
 $218
 $279
 $221
Warranty liability assumed as a result of acquisition
 1
 
 1
Charges to operations36
 46
 124
 145
44
 43
 91
 88
Utilization(42) (47) (137) (140)(35) (40) (80) (94)
Changes in estimate related to pre-existing warranties2
 (1) 13
 33
27
 4
 23
 10
Warranty accrual, end of period$221
 $221
 $221
 $221
$313
 $225
 $313
 $225

The long-term portion of the warranty accrual classified in other liabilities was $75$123 million and $107 million as of AprilDecember 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016, respectively.

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)

Other comprehensive income (loss) (“OCI”), net of tax refers to expenses, gains and $71 millionlosses that are recorded as an element of July 3, 2015.
Investments
shareholders’ equity but are excluded from net income. The following tables summarize, by major type,table illustrates the fair value and cost basischanges in the balances of the Company’s investments (in millions)each component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (“AOCI”):
 April 1, 2016
 Cost Basis Unrealized Gains (Losses) Fair Value
Available-for-sale securities:     
Certificates of deposit$146
 $
 $146
Total$146
 $
 $146
 July 3, 2015
 Cost Basis Unrealized Gains (Losses) Fair Value
Available-for-sale securities:     
U.S. Treasury securities$287
 $
 $287
U.S. Government agency securities95
 
 95
Commercial paper109
 
 109
Certificates of deposit99
 
 99
Total$590
 $
 $590
 Actuarial Pension Gains (Losses) Foreign Currency Translation Gains (Losses) Unrealized Gains (Losses) on Foreign Exchange Contracts Total AOCI
 (in millions)
Balance at July 1, 2016$(45) $74
 $74
 $103
OCI before reclassifications6
 (169) (98) (261)
Amounts reclassified from AOCI
 
 (42) (42)
Income tax benefit (expense) related to items of OCI(2) 5
 
 3
Net current-period OCI4
 (164) (140) (300)
Balance at December 30, 2016$(41) $(90) $(66) $(197)
The fair value

Table of the Company’s investments classified as available-for-sale securities at April 1, 2016, by remaining contractual maturity, were as follows (in millions):
Contents
 Cost Basis Fair Value
Due in less than one year (short-term investments):$146
 $146
Total$146
 $146
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

The Company determined no available-for-sale securities were other-than-temporarily impaired duringfollowing table illustrates the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015. The Company sold the majoritysignificant amounts of its existing investments in the three months ended April 1, 2016, resulting in an immaterial realized loss that was included within interest and other expense ineach component reclassified out of AOCI to the condensed consolidated statements of income. For moreoperations:
  Three Months Ended Six Months Ended  
AOCI Component December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 Statement of Operations Line Item
  (in millions)  
Unrealized holding gain (loss) on cash flow hedging activities:          
Foreign exchange contracts $16
 $(25) $40
 $(53) Cost of revenue
Foreign exchange contracts 
 
 2
 
 Research and development
Unrealized holding gain (loss) on cash flow hedging activities 16
 (25) 42
 (53)  
Total reclassifications for the period $16
 $(25) $42
 $(53)  



Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 4.Fair Value Measurements and Investments

Financial Instruments Carried at Fair Value

Financial assets and liabilities that are remeasured and reported at fair value at each reporting period are classified and disclosed in one of the following three levels:

Level 1.Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2.Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.

Level 3.Inputs that are unobservable for the asset or liability and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.

The following tables present information about the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016, and indicate the Company's available-for-sale securities, seefair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques utilized to determine such values:
 December 30, 2016
 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
 (in millions)
Assets:       
Cash equivalents:       
Money market funds$1,381
 $
 $
 $1,381
Certificates of deposit
 8
 
 8
Total cash equivalents1,381
 8
 
 1,389
Short-term investments:       
Certificates of deposit
 137
 
 137
Corporate notes and bonds
 13
 
 13
Asset-backed securities
 7
 
 7
Municipal notes and bonds
 4
 
 4
Total short-term investments
 161
 
 161
Long-term investments:       
U.S. Treasury securities2
 
 
 2
U.S. Government agency securities
 5
 
 5
International government securities
 1
 
 1
Corporate notes and bonds
 64
 
 64
Asset-backed securities
 10
 
 10
Municipal notes and bonds
 5
 
 5
Total long-term investments2
 85
 
 87
Foreign exchange contracts
 4
 
 4
Total assets at fair value$1,383
 $258
 $
 $1,641
Liabilities:       
Foreign exchange contracts$
 $178
 $
 $178
Exchange option
 
 1
 1
Total liabilities at fair value$
 $178
 $1
 $179


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

 July 1, 2016
 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
 (in millions)
Assets:       
Cash equivalents:       
Money market funds$2,199
 $
 $
 $2,199
Certificates of deposit
 1
 
 1
Total cash equivalents2,199
 1
 
 2,200
Short-term investments:       
Certificates of deposit
 202
 
 202
Corporate notes and bonds
 8
 
 8
Asset-backed securities
 11
 
 11
Municipal notes and bonds
 6
 
 6
Total short-term investments
 227
 
 227
Long-term investments:       
U.S. Treasury securities2
 
 
 2
U.S. Government agency securities
 10
 
 10
International government securities
 1
 
 1
Corporate notes and bonds
 89
 
 89
Asset-backed securities
 11
 
 11
Municipal notes and bonds
 6
 
 6
Total long-term investments2
 117
 
 119
Foreign exchange contracts
 126
 
 126
Call options
 
 71
 71
Total assets at fair value$2,201
 $471
 $71
 $2,743
Liabilities:       
Foreign exchange contracts$
 $23
 $
 $23
Exchange option
 
 155
 155
Total liabilities at fair value$
 $23
 $155
 $178

During the three and six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016, the Company had no transfers of financial assets and liabilities between Level 1 and Level 2.

Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)

The fair value measurement of the call options and exchange options arising from the Company’s Convertible Notes (as defined in Note 76 to thesethe condensed consolidated financial statements.statements) which are not actively traded, is determined using unobservable inputs (Level 3). These inputs include (i) the estimated amount and timing of settlement of the underlying debt; (ii) the probability of the achievement of the factor(s) on which the settlement is based; (iii) the risk-adjusted discount rate based on the expected term to maturity of the debt; and (iv) the economic incentive for holders to exercise their exchange option. Significant increases or decreases in any of those inputs in isolation could result in a significantly lower or higher fair value measurement.

There were no transfers of call options or exchange options out of Level 3 for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

The following is a reconciliation of the call options reported in Other current assets and Other non-current assets in the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 30, 2016.
 2017 Call Options 2020 Call Options Total
 (in millions)
Fair value at July 1, 2016$70
 $1
 $71
Net realized loss
 (1) (1)
Redemptions(70) 
 (70)
Fair value at December 30, 2016$
 $
 $

The following is a reconciliation of the exchange options reported in Accrued expenses and Other liabilities in the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 30, 2016.
 2017 Exchange Options 2020 Exchange Options Total
 (in millions)
Fair value at July 1, 2016$87
 $68
 $155
Net realized gain(3) (31) (34)
Redemptions(83) (46) (129)
Net unrealized loss
 9
 9
Fair value at December 30, 2016$1
 $
 $1

Financial Instruments Not Carried at Fair Value

For financial instruments where the carrying value (which includes principal adjusted for any unamortized issuance costs, and discounts or premiums) differs from fair value (which is based on quoted market prices), the following table represents the related carrying value and fair value for each of the Company’s outstanding financial instruments. Each of the financial instruments presented below was categorized as Level 2 for all periods presented, based on the frequency of trading immediately prior to the end of the second quarter of 2017 and the fourth quarter of 2016, respectively.
 December 30, 2016 July 1, 2016
 
Carrying
Value
 
Fair
Value
 Carrying
Value
 Fair
Value
 (in millions)
Secured Notes$1,831
 $2,093
 $1,828
 $2,044
Unsecured Notes3,237
 3,978
 3,229
 3,575
Term Loan A4,068
 4,120
 4,061
 4,161
U.S. Term Loan B
 
 3,546
 3,773
U.S. Term Loan B-12,980
 3,028
 
 
Euro Term Loan B(1)

 
 960
 981
Euro Term Loan B-1(1)
927
 946
 
 
Bridge Loan
 
 2,995
 3,000
Convertible Debt 2017
 
 124
 125
Convertible Debt 202030
 31
 251
 264
Total$13,073
 $14,196
 $16,994
 $17,923
(1)
Euro Term Loan B and Euro Term Loan B-1 outstanding principal amounts as of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016 were based upon the Euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate as of those respective dates.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Cost Method Investments

From time to time, the Company enters into certain strategic investments for the promotion of business and strategic objectives. As of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016, the Company had aggregate net investments under the cost method of accounting of $139 million and $135 million, respectively, and these investments consisted of privately-held equity securities without a readily determinable fair value. The Company has determined that it is not practicable to estimate the fair value of these investments. These strategicprivately-held equity investments are recorded at cost within otherreported under Other non-current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheetssheets.

Available-for-Sale Securities

The cost basis of the Company’s investments classified as available-for-sale securities, individually and in the aggregate, approximated its fair value as of December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016.

The cost basis and fair value of the Company’s investments classified as available-for-sale securities as of December 30, 2016, by remaining contractual maturity, were as follows:
 Cost Basis Fair Value
 (in millions)
Due in less than one year (short-term investments)$161
 $161
Due in one to five years (included in other non-current assets)88
 87
Total$249
 $248

The Company determined available-for-sale securities had no material other-than-temporary impairments in the three and six months ended December 30, 2016.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 5.Derivatives

The majority of the Company’s transactions are in U.S. dollars; however, some transactions are based in various foreign currencies. The Company purchases short-term, foreign exchange forward contracts to hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange fluctuations on certain underlying assets, liabilities and commitments for operating expenses and product costs denominated in foreign currencies. The purpose of entering into these hedging transactions is to minimize the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on the Company’s results of operations. These contract maturity dates do not exceed 12 months. All foreign exchange forward contracts are for risk management purposes only. The Company does not purchase foreign exchange forward contracts for speculative or trading purposes. As of December 30, 2016, the Company had outstanding foreign exchange forward contracts with commercial banks for British pound sterling, Euro, Japanese yen, Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso, Singapore dollar and Thai baht, which were designated as either cash flow or fair value hedges.

If the derivative is designated as a cash flow hedge, the effective portion of the change in fair value of the derivative is initially deferred in AOCI, net of tax. These amounts are subsequently recognized into earnings when the underlying cash flow being hedged is recognized into earnings. Recognized gains and losses on foreign exchange forward contracts entered into for manufacturing-related activities are reported in cost of revenue and presented within cash flow from operations. Hedge effectiveness is measured by comparing the hedging instrument’s cumulative change in fair value from inception to maturity to the underlying exposure’s terminal value. The Company determined the ineffectiveness associated with its cash flow hedges to be immaterial to the condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016.

A change in the fair value of fair value hedges is recognized in earnings in the period incurred and is reported as a component of cost of revenue or operating expenses, depending on the nature of the underlying hedged item. All fair value hedges were determined to be effective as of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016. The changes in fair value on these contracts were immaterial to the condensed consolidated financial statements during the three and six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016.

As of December 30, 2016, the net amount of unrealized gains with respect to the Company’s foreign exchange forward contracts that is expected to be reclassified into earnings within the next 12 months was $65 million. In addition, as of December 30, 2016, the Company did not have any foreign exchange forward contracts with credit-risk-related contingent features.

See Note 4 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to the fair value of the Company’s foreign exchange forward contracts.

Derivative Instruments

The fair value and balance sheet location of the Company’s derivative instruments were as follows:
 Derivative Assets Reported in
 Other Current Assets Other Non-current Assets
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Foreign exchange forward contracts designated$2
 $114
 $
 $
Foreign exchange forward contracts not designated2
 12
 
 
Call options
 70
 
 1
Total derivatives$4
 $196
 $
 $1


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

 Derivative Liabilities Reported in
 Accrued Expenses Other Liabilities
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Foreign exchange forward contracts designated$167
 $23
 $
 $
Foreign exchange forward contracts not designated11
 
 
 
Exchange option1
 141
 
 14
Total derivatives$179
 $164
 $
 $14

Netting Arrangements

The following table presents the gross amounts of the Company’s derivative instruments, amounts offset due to master netting arrangements with the Company’s various counterparties and the net amounts recognized in the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 30, 2016:
Derivatives Designated as Hedging Instruments Gross Amounts of Recognized Assets (Liabilities) Gross Amounts Offset in the Balance Sheet Net Amounts of Assets (Liabilities) Presented in the Balance Sheet Gross Amounts Not Offset in the Balance Sheet Net Amount
    Financial Instruments Cash Collateral Received or Pledged 
  (in millions)
Foreign exchange forward contracts:            
Financial assets $2
 $
 $2
 $
 $
 $2
Financial liabilities (167) 
 (167) 
 
 (167)
Total derivative instruments $(165) $
 $(165) $
 $
 $(165)

The Company had a gross and net asset of $118 million and $114 million, respectively, and a gross and net liability of $27 million and $23 million, respectively, related to its derivative instruments outstanding as of July 1, 2016.

Effect of Foreign Exchange Forward Contracts on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

The impact of foreign exchange forward contracts on the consolidated financial statements was as follows:
  Three Months Ended
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in AOCI on Derivatives Amount of Gain (Loss) Reclassified from AOCI into Earnings
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
  (in millions)
Foreign exchange forward contracts $(119) $13
 $16
 $(25)

  Six Months Ended
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in AOCI on Derivatives Amount of Gain (Loss) Reclassified from AOCI into Earnings
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
  (in millions)
Foreign exchange forward contracts $(97) $(40) $42
 $(53)

The total net realized transaction and foreign exchange forward contract currency gains and losses were not material to the condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016.

Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 6.Debt

Debt consisted of the following as of April 1,December 30, 2016 and July 3, 2015.1, 2016:
Joint Venture
In November 2015,
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Variable interest rate Term Loan A maturing 2021$4,125
 $4,125
Variable interest rate U.S. Term Loan B maturing 2023
 3,750
Variable interest rate U.S. Term Loan B-1 maturing 20232,985
 
Variable interest rate Euro Term Loan B maturing 2023(1)

 987
Variable interest rate Euro Term Loan B-1 maturing 2023(1)
929
 
7.375% senior secured notes due 20231,875
 1,875
10.500% senior unsecured notes due 20243,350
 3,350
Convertible senior notes35
 439
Bridge loans
 3,000
Total debt13,299
 17,526
Issuance costs and debt discounts(226) (532)
Subtotal13,073
 16,994
Less bridge loans and current portion of long-term debt(129) (3,334)
Long-term debt$12,944
 $13,660
(1)
Euro Term Loan B and Euro Term Loan B-1 outstanding principal amounts as of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016 were based upon the Euro to U.S. dollar exchange rate as of those respective dates.

Credit Agreement – Term Loans and Revolving Credit Facility

On April 29, 2016, the Company entered into a credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) that provided for a $4.125 billion Term Loan A, a $3.750 billion U.S. Term Loan B, a €885 million Euro Term Loan B and a $1.0 billion revolving credit facility. The revolving credit facility includes a $200 million sublimit for letters of credit.

In the first quarter ended September 30, 2016, the Company settled in full the principal amounts of the $3.75 billion U.S. Term Loan B and the €885 million Euro Term Loan B, plus accrued interest. In connection with the settlement of the U.S. Term Loan B and Euro Term Loan B, the Company recognized a loss on debt extinguishment of $227 million consisting of unamortized issuance costs and debt discount fees.

On August 17, 2016, the Company borrowed $3.0 billion under a new U.S. dollar-denominated term loan (“U.S. Term Loan B-1”) under the Credit Agreement and used the proceeds of this new loan and cash of $750 million to prepay in full the U.S. Term Loan B previously outstanding under the Credit Agreement. The U.S. Term Loan B-1 has an interest rate equal to, at the Company’s option, either an adjusted LIBOR rate, subject to a 0.75% floor, plus 3.75% or a base rate plus 2.75% (4.52% as of December 30, 2016). Principal payments on U.S. Term Loan B-1 of 0.25% are due quarterly and began on September 30, 2016 with the balance due on April 29, 2023. The U.S. Term Loan B-1 issuance costs of $6 million are amortized to interest expense over the term of the loan. As of December 30, 2016, issuance costs of $5 million remain unamortized.

On September 22, 2016, the Company borrowed €885 million under a new Euro-denominated term loan (“Euro Term Loan B-1”) under the Credit Agreement and used the proceeds of this new loan to prepay in full the Euro Term Loan B previously outstanding under the Credit Agreement. The Euro Term Loan B-1 has an interest rate equal to an adjusted EURIBOR rate, subject to a 0.75% floor, plus 3.25% (4.00% as of December 30, 2016). Principal payments on Euro Term Loan B-1 of 0.25% are due quarterly and began on September 30, 2016 with the balance due on April 29, 2023. The Euro Term Loan B-1 issuance costs of $2 million are amortized to interest expense over the term of the loan. As of December 30, 2016, issuance costs of $2 million remain unamortized.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

As of December 30, 2016, the revolving credit facility was not drawn upon, and there was no outstanding balance.

Beginning in September 2017, the Company is required to make quarterly principal payments on Term Loan A totaling $206 million in 2018, $309 million in 2019, $413 million in 2020 and the remaining balance of $3.197 billion due in 2021. As of December 30, 2016, Term Loan A had an outstanding balance of $4.125 billion with a variable interest rate of 2.775%.

The obligations under the Credit Agreement are guaranteed by HGST, Inc., WD Media, LLC, Western Digital (Fremont), LLC and Western Digital Technologies, Inc. (“WDT”) (together referred to as the “WD Guarantors”), and are secured on a first-priority basis by a lien on substantially all the assets and properties of the Company and the WD Guarantors, including all of the capital stock held by these entities (subject to a 65% limitation on pledges of capital stock of foreign subsidiaries and domestic holding companies of foreign subsidiaries), subject to certain exceptions.

The term loans and the revolving credit loans under the Credit Agreement may be prepaid in whole or in part at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions, except that the U.S. Term Loan B-1 and the Euro Term Loan B-1 require the Company to pay a 1.0% prepayment fee if the loans thereunder are repaid in connection with certain “repricing” transactions on or before February 17, 2017, with respect to U.S. Term Loan B-1, and March 22, 2017, with respect to Euro Term Loan B-1.

The Credit Agreement requires the Company to comply with certain financial covenants, such as a leverage ratio and an interest coverage ratio. In addition, the documents governing substantially all of the Company’s outstanding debt, including the Credit Agreement, require the Company to comply with customary covenants that limit or restrict the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ ability to incur liens and indebtedness; make certain restricted payments, acquisitions, investments, loans and guarantees; and enter into certain transactions with affiliates, mergers and consolidations.

Additional Bridge Facility

On May 12, 2016, WDT entered into a short-term senior secured bridge credit agreement providing for $3.0 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior secured bridge loans. On July 21, 2016, the Company repaid in full the $3.0 billion aggregate principal amount outstanding, together with accrued interest.

Senior Notes

On April 13, 2016, the Company completed an offering of its $1.875 billion aggregate principal amount of 7.375% senior secured notes due 2023 (the “Secured Notes”) and $3.350 billion aggregate principal amount of 10.500% senior unsecured notes due 2024 (the “Initial Unsecured Notes”). On January 6, 2017, to form a joint venturefulfill the Company’s obligations under the registration rights agreement associated with Unisplendour Corporation Limited (“Unis”)the Initial Unsecured Notes, the Company commenced an exchange offer to marketexchange all of these outstanding unsecured notes for an equal principal amount of new 10.500% senior unsecured notes due 2024 (the “New Unsecured Notes”), with substantially the same terms as the Initial Unsecured Notes. The New Unsecured Notes are registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and sellhave no transfer restrictions or rights to additional interest. On February 6, 2017, substantially all of the Company's current data center storage systems in China and to develop data storage systems for the Chinese marketoutstanding Initial Unsecured Notes were tendered in the future. The joint venture will be 51% owned by Unisexchange offer and its subsidiary, Unissoft (Wuxi) Group Co. Ltd., and 49%accepted by the Company. The joint ventureInitial Unsecured Notes, the New Unsecured Notes and the Secured Notes are collectively referred to as the “Notes”.

The Company is expectednot required to become operationalmake principal payments on the Notes prior to their respective maturity dates, except that the Company may be required to offer to purchase the Notes upon the occurrence of a change of control (as defined in the indentures governing the Notes) or with the proceeds of certain non-ordinary course asset sales. Interest payments on the Notes are due semi-annually in arrears.

The Notes are guaranteed by the WD Guarantors, and the Secured Notes and related guarantees are secured on an equal and ratable basis by liens on the same assets that secure indebtedness under the Credit Agreement.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Convertible Notes, Exchange Options and Call Options

As of July 1, 2016, the Company had outstanding, through the acquisition of SanDisk, $129 million aggregate principal amount of its 1.5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2017 (the “2017 Notes”) and $310 million aggregate principal amount of its 0.5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2020 (the “2020 Notes” and, together with the 2017 Notes, the “Convertible Notes”). The 2017 Notes mature on August 15, 2017 and the 2020 Notes mature on November 15, 2020.

During the three months ended December 30, 2016, the Company repurchased Convertible Notes for $3 million of cash. During the six months ended December 30, 2016, the Company paid to the holders of the Convertible Notes for conversion and repurchase, $493 million of cash and 0.3 million shares of the Company’s common stock with an aggregate value of $16 million.

As of December 30, 2016, $35 million principal amount of the 2020 Notes and an immaterial principal amount of the 2017 Notes were outstanding. For the 2020 Notes that remain outstanding, the conversion rate is 10.9006 units of reference property per $1,000 principal amount of the 2020 Notes, corresponding to 2.6020 shares of the Company’s common stock and $735.79 of cash, subject to adjustments under the indenture. The 2020 Notes are not currently exchangeable into reference property.

The Convertible Notes were bifurcated into a debt host and exchange option for accounting purposes. The exchange options are accounted for as a derivative liability because they are predominantly settled in cash. Changes in the fair value of the exchange options are reported, and will be reported until the Company extinguishes the related debt, in Other income (expense), net in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The exchange options are measured and reported at fair value on a recurring basis, within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy. The fair value of the unredeemed and unsettled exchange options was reported in Accrued expenses and Other liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. See Note 4 to the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to the fair values of the exchange options. For the three and six months ended December 30, 2016, the change in the fair value of the outstanding exchange options related to the Convertible Notes resulted in an immaterial gain.

In connection with the SanDisk acquisition, the Company assumed the outstanding call options entered into by SanDisk at the inception of the respective Convertible Notes, which were structured to reduce the potential economic dilution associated with the conversion of Convertible Notes. The call options are derivative instruments classified as an asset that result in the Company receiving cash and shares that partially offset the Company’s obligation upon conversion of the Convertible Notes. The fair value of the unredeemed and unsettled call options was reported in Other current assets and Other non-current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. During the six months ended December 30, 2016, under the call options, the Company received $61 million of cash and 0.1 million shares of the Company’s common stock which had an aggregate value of $11 million. During the three and six months ended December 30, 2016, the Company recognized an immaterial non-cash loss related to the change in value in the outstanding call options. The value of the call options as of December 30, 2016 was immaterial.

The exchange and repurchase of the Convertible Notes and related settlement of the call options during the fourth quarterthree and six months ended December 30, 2016 resulted in an immaterial net loss.


Table of fiscal 2016, pending regulatory approvals.Contents
Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 7.Pension and Other Post-Retirement Benefit Plans

The Company has pension and other post-retirement benefit plans in various countries. The Company’s principal pension plans are in Japan. All pension and other post-retirement benefit plans outside of the Company’s Japanese defined benefit pension plan (the "Japanese Plan") are immaterial to the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements. The expected long-term rate of return on the Japanese Plan assets is 2.5%.

Obligations and Funded Status

The following table presents the unfunded status of the benefit obligations for the Japanese Plan were as follows:
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Benefit obligations$281
 $326
Fair value of plan assets190
 212
Unfunded status$91
 $114

The following table presents the unfunded amounts related to the Japanese Plan as recognized on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets:
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Non-current liabilities$91
 $114
Net amount recognized$91
 $114


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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 8.Commitments, Contingencies and Related Parties

Flash Ventures

The Company’s business ventures with Toshiba Corporation (“Toshiba”) consist of three separate legal entities: Flash Partners Ltd. (“Flash Partners”), NetFlash Alliance Ltd. (“Flash Alliance”) and Flash Forward Ltd (“Flash Forward” and together with Flash Partners and Flash Alliance, referred to as “Flash Ventures”). The Company has a 49.9% ownership interest and Toshiba has a 50.1% ownership interest in each of Taxthese entities. Through Flash Ventures, the Company and Toshiba collaborate in the development and manufacture of NAND flash memory products, which are manufactured by Toshiba at its wafer fabrication facilities located in Yokkaichi, Japan, using semiconductor manufacturing equipment individually owned or leased by each Flash Ventures entity. The entities within Flash Ventures purchase wafers from Toshiba at cost and then resell those wafers to the Company and Toshiba at cost plus a markup.
Other comprehensive income (loss), net
The Company accounts for its ownership position of tax referseach entity with Flash Ventures under the equity method of accounting. The financial and other support provided by the Company in all periods presented was either contractually required or the result of a joint decision to revenue, expenses, gains and losses thatexpand wafer capacity, transition to new technologies or refinance existing equipment lease commitments. Entities within Flash Ventures are recorded as an elementvariable interest entities (“VIEs”). The Company evaluated whether it is the primary beneficiary of shareholders’ equity but are excluded from net income. The income tax impact on componentsany of other comprehensive income is immaterialthe entities within Flash Ventures for all periods presented.presented and determined that it is not the primary beneficiary of any of the entities within Flash Ventures because it does not have a controlling financial interest in any of those entities. In determining whether the Company is the primary beneficiary, the Company analyzed the primary purpose and design of Flash Ventures, the activities that most significantly impact Flash Ventures’ economic performance, and whether the Company had the power to direct those activities. The Company concluded, based upon its 49.9% ownership, the voting structure and the manner in which the day-to-day operations are conducted for each entity within Flash Ventures, that the Company lacked the power to direct most of the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of each entity within Flash Ventures.

The following table illustratespresents the changesnotes receivable from, and equity investments in, Flash Ventures as of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016:
 December 30,
2016
 July 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Notes receivable, Flash Partners$145
 $65
Notes receivable, Flash Alliance138
 235
Notes receivable, Flash Forward248
 263
Investment in Flash Partners178
 202
Investment in Flash Alliance267
 306
Investment in Flash Forward106
 100
Total notes receivable and investments in Flash Ventures$1,082
 $1,171

During the three and six months ended December 30, 2016, the Company made net payments to Flash Ventures of $766 million and $1.5 billion, respectively, for purchased NAND flash memory wafers and net loans and investments.

The Company makes, or will make, loans to Flash Ventures to fund equipment investments for new process technologies and additional wafer capacity. The Company aggregates its Flash Ventures’ notes receivable into one class of financing receivables due to the similar ownership interest and common structure in each Flash Venture entity. For all reporting periods presented, no loans were past due and no loan impairments were recorded. The Company’s notes receivable from each Flash Ventures entity, denominated in Japanese yen, are secured by equipment owned by that Flash Ventures entity.

The Company assesses financing receivable credit quality through financial and operational reviews of the borrower and creditworthiness, including credit rating agency ratings, of significant investors of the borrower, where material or known. Impairments, when required for credit worthiness, are recorded in Other income (expense), net in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

As of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016, the Company had accounts payable balances due to Flash Ventures of $175 million and $168 million, respectively.

The Company’s maximum reasonably estimable loss exposure (excluding lost profits) as a result of its involvement with Flash Ventures, based upon the Japanese yen to U.S. dollar exchange rate at December 30, 2016, is presented below. Investments in Flash Ventures are denominated in Japanese yen and the maximum possible loss exposure excludes any cumulative translation adjustment due to revaluation from the Japanese yen to the U.S. dollar.
 December 30,
2016
 (in millions)
Notes receivable$531
Equity investments551
Operating lease guarantees1,102
Prepayments26
Maximum estimable loss exposure$2,210

The Company is committed to purchase its provided three-month forecast of Flash Ventures’ NAND wafer supply, which generally equals 50% of Flash Ventures’ output. The Company is not able to estimate its total wafer purchase commitment obligation beyond its rolling three-month purchase commitment because the price is determined by reference to the future cost of producing the semiconductor wafers. In addition, the Company is committed to fund 49.9% to 50.0% of each componentFlash Ventures entity’s investments to the extent that each Flash Ventures entity’s operating cash flow is insufficient to fund these investments.

Off-Balance Sheet Liabilities

Flash Ventures sells and leases back from a consortium of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)financial institutions a portion of its tools and has entered into equipment lease agreements of which the Company guarantees half of the total outstanding obligations. The lease agreements contain customary covenants for Japanese lease facilities. In addition to containing customary events of default related to Flash Ventures that could result in an acceleration of Flash Ventures’ obligations, the nine months ended April 1, 2016 (in millions):
lease agreements contain acceleration clauses for certain events of default related to the guarantors, including the Company.
 Actuarial Pension Gain Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Foreign Exchange Contracts Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)
Balance at July 3, 2015$5
 $(25) $(20)
Other comprehensive loss before reclassifications
 (9) (9)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
 61
 61
Net current-period other comprehensive income
 52
 52
Balance at April 1, 2016$5
 $27
 $32

The following table illustratespresents the changesCompany’s portion of the remaining guarantee obligations under the Flash Ventures’ lease facilities in both Japanese yen and U.S. dollar-equivalent based upon the Japanese yen to U.S. dollar exchange rate as of December 30, 2016.
 Lease Amounts
 (Japanese yen, in billions) (U.S. dollar, in millions)
Total guarantee obligations¥129
 $1,102


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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

The following table details the breakdown of the Company’s remaining guarantee obligations between the principal amortization and the purchase option exercise price at the end of the term of the Flash Ventures lease agreements, in annual installments as of December 30, 2016 in U.S. dollars based upon the Japanese yen to U.S. dollar exchange rate as of December 30, 2016:
Annual Installments Payment of Principal Amortization Purchase Option Exercise Price at Final Lease Terms Guarantee Amount
  (in millions)
Year 1 $269
 $47
 $316
Year 2 230
 
 230
Year 3 184
 71
 255
Year 4 108
 58
 166
Year 5 33
 102
 135
Total guarantee obligations $824
 $278
 $1,102

The Company and Toshiba have agreed to mutually contribute to, and indemnify each other and Flash Ventures for, environmental remediation costs or liability resulting from Flash Ventures’ manufacturing operations in certain circumstances. The Company has not made any indemnification payments, nor recorded any indemnification receivables, under any such agreements. As of December 30, 2016, no amounts have been accrued in the balancesconsolidated financial statements with respect to these indemnification guarantees.



WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 9. Shareholders’ Equity

Stock-based Compensation Expense

The following tables present the Company’s stock-based compensation for equity-settled awards and related tax benefit by type and financial statement line included in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of accumulated other comprehensiveoperations:
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Options$11
 $12
 $23
 $26
Employee stock purchase plan1
 1
 9
 6
Restricted stock units (1)
90
 24
 169
 47
Subtotal102
 37
 201
 79
Tax benefit(29) (10) (54) (20)
Total$73
 $27
 $147
 $59
(1)
Restricted stock units (“RSUs”) include performance stock units (“PSUs”)
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Cost of revenue$11
 $4
 $24
 $9
Research and development43
 15
 87
 30
Selling, general and administrative43
 18
 85
 40
Restructuring5
 
 5
 
Subtotal102
 37
 201
 79
Tax benefit(29) (10) (54) (20)
Total$73
 $27
 $147
 $59

As of December 30, 2016, total compensation cost related to unvested stock options was $83 million and will be amortized on a straight-line basis over a weighted average service period of approximately 2.8 years. As of December 30, 2016, total compensation cost related to the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) rights issued to employees but not yet recognized was $41 million and will be amortized on a straight-line basis over a weighted average service period of approximately 1.4 years.

As of December 30, 2016, the aggregate unamortized fair value of all unvested RSUs and PSUs was $611 million, which will be recognized on a straight-line basis over a weighted average vesting period of approximately 2.6 years, assuming the performance metrics are met for the PSUs.


WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Stock Option Activity

The following table summarizes stock option activity under the Company’s incentive plans:
 Number of Shares Weighted Average Exercise Price Per Share Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life Aggregate Intrinsic Value
 (in millions)   (in years) (in millions)
Options outstanding at July 1, 20169.0
 $55.74
 3.9
 $60
Granted2.8
 44.83
    
Exercised(1.5) 34.56
    
Canceled or expired(0.6) 69.91
    
Options outstanding at December 30, 20169.7
 54.86
 4.4
 187
Exercisable at December 30, 20164.8
 53.61
 2.8
 101
Vested and expected to vest after December 30, 20169.4
 55.00
 4.3
 180

As of December 30, 2016, the Company had options outstanding to purchase an aggregate of 6.6 million shares with an exercise price below the quoted price of the Company’s stock on that date resulting in an aggregate intrinsic value of $187 million at that date.

RSU and PSU Activity

The following table summarizes RSU and PSU activity under the Company’s incentive plans:
 Number of Shares Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
 (in millions)  
RSUs and PSUs outstanding at July 1, 201615.7
 $41.92
Granted5.5
 45.23
Vested(2.3) 62.49
Forfeited(1.4) 44.06
RSUs and PSUs outstanding at December 30, 201617.5
 42.82
Expected to vest after December 30, 201616.3
 42.83

RSUs and PSUs are generally settled in an equal number of shares of the Company’s common stock at the time of vesting of the units. The aggregate value of RSUs and PSUs that became fully-vested during the six months ended December 30, 2016 was $117 million, determined as of the vest date.

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)


SARs Activity

As of December 30, 2016, all outstanding stock appreciation rights (“SARs”) issued to employees were fully vested and will be settled in cash upon exercise. The fair value of SARs is solely subject to market price fluctuations. The following table presents the adjustments to the fair market value of SARs for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016:
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions)
SAR expense (benefit)$3
 $(10) $8
 $(11)
Tax expense (benefit)(1) 1
 (2) 1
Total SAR expense (benefit)$2
 $(9) $6
 $(10)

The Company had a total liability of $24 million and $20 million related to SARs included in Accrued expenses in the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 30, 2016 and July 1, 2016, respectively. As of December 30, 2016, 0.4 million SARs were outstanding with a weighted average exercise price of $7.99.

Stock Repurchase Program

The Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) has authorized $5.0 billion for the repurchase of the Company’s common stock. The stock repurchase program is effective until February 3, 2020. The Company did not repurchase any shares of common stock during the three and six months ended December 30, 2016. The remaining amount available to be purchased under the Company’s stock repurchase program as of December 30, 2016 was $2.1 billion.

Dividends to Shareholders

On September 13, 2012, the Company announced that the Board had authorized the adoption of a quarterly cash dividend policy. Under the cash dividend policy, holders of the Company’s common stock receive dividends when and as declared by the Board. The Company paid $142 million in cash of dividends on July 15, 2016 relating to dividends declared on May 3, 2016 and paid $143 million in cash of dividends on October 17, 2016 relating to dividends declared on August 3, 2016.

On November 3, 2016, the Board declared a cash dividend for the quarter ended December 30, 2016 of $0.50 per share of the Company’s common stock, $0.01 par value per share. The cash dividend of $144 million was paid on January 17, 2017 to the Company’s shareholders of record as of December 30, 2016.

On February 1, 2017, the Board declared a cash dividend for the quarter ending March 31, 2017 of $0.50 per share of the Company’s common stock, $0.01 par value per share. The cash dividend will be paid on April 17, 2017 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2017.

The Company may modify, suspend or cancel its cash dividend policy in any manner and at any time.


WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 10.Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The following table presents the income tax expense (benefit) and the effective tax rate:
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Income tax expense (benefit)$86
 $(7) $181
 $24
Effective tax rate27% (3)% 362% 4%

Income tax expense of $181 million for the six months ended December 30, 2016 is attributable primarily to discrete effects consisting of income tax expense from the integration of SanDisk of $90 million and a valuation allowance on acquired tax attributes of $109 million. Income tax expense related to the SanDisk integration is partially offset by income tax benefit from deductible debt issuance costs, debt discounts and prepayment fees from the debt refinancing of $96 million. These discrete items are the primary drivers of the effective tax rate for the six months ended December 30, 2016.

The primary drivers for the difference between the effective tax rate for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016 and the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 35% are the current year generation of tax credits, tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand that expire at various dates from 2016 through 2029, for both periods, and the discrete items described above for the six months ended December 30, 2016. For the three and six months ended January 1, 2016, the difference between the effective tax rate and the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 35% is primarily due to tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand that expire at various dates from 2016 through 2029.

In the six months ended December 30, 2016, the Company recorded a net decrease of $14 million in its liability for unrecognized tax benefits. As of December 30, 2016, the Company’s liability for unrecognized tax benefits was approximately $477 million. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as of December 30, 2016 was $84 million.

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) previously completed its field examination of the Company’s federal income tax returns for fiscal years 2006 through 2009 and proposed certain adjustments. The Company received Revenue Agent Reports from the IRS that seek to increase the Company’s U.S. taxable income which would result in additional federal tax expense totaling $795 million, subject to interest. The issues in dispute relate primarily to transfer pricing with the Company’s foreign subsidiaries and intercompany payable balances. The Company disagrees with the proposed adjustments and in September 2015, filed a protest with the IRS Appeals Office and received the IRS rebuttal in July 2016. The Company believes that its tax positions are properly supported and will vigorously contest the position taken by the IRS. In September 2015, the IRS commenced an examination of the Company’s fiscal years 2010 through 2012.

The Company believes that adequate provision has been made for any adjustments that may result from tax examinations. However, the outcome of tax examinations cannot be predicted with certainty. If any issues addressed in the Company’s tax examinations are resolved in a manner not consistent with management’s expectations, the Company could be required to adjust its provision for income taxes in the period such resolution occurs. As of December 30, 2016, it is not possible to estimate the amount of change, if any, in the unrecognized tax benefits that is reasonably possible within the next twelve months. Any significant change in the amount of the Company’s liability for unrecognized tax benefits would most likely result from additional information or settlements relating to the examination of the Company’s tax returns.


WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 11.Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share

The following table presents the computation of basic and diluted income (loss) for the nine months ended April 3, 2015 (in millions):per common share:
 Actuarial Pension Gain Unrealized Gain (Loss) on Foreign Exchange Contracts Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)
Balance at June 27, 2014$7
 $5
 $12
Other comprehensive loss before reclassifications
 (39) (39)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)
 24
 24
Net current-period other comprehensive loss
 (15) (15)
Balance at April 3, 2015$7
 $(10) $(3)
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions, except per share data)
Net income (loss)$235
 $251
 $(131) $534
Weighted average shares outstanding:       
Basic286
 232
 285
 231
Employee stock options, RSUs, PSUs, ESPP8
 2
 
 3
Diluted294
 234
 285
 234
Income (loss) per common share       
Basic$0.82
 $1.08
 $(0.46) $2.31
Diluted$0.80
 $1.07
 $(0.46) $2.28
Anti-dilutive potential common shares excluded(1)
5
 6
 13
 4
3. Income per Common Share
(1)
For purposes of computing diluted income per common share, certain potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the calculation because their effect would have been anti-dilutive.

The Company computes basic income per common share using net income and the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted income per common share is computed using net income and the weighted average number of common shares and potentially dilutive common shares outstanding during the period. Potentially dilutive common shares include dilutive outstanding employee stock options, rights to purchase shares of common stock under the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) andESPP, awards of restricted stock units.RSUs and PSUs, and exchange options related to the Company’s Convertible Notes.


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 12.
Acquisitions

Fiscal 2016 Acquisition

In May 2016, the Company acquired SanDisk, a global leader in NAND flash storage solutions primarily to deepen the Company’s expertise in non-volatile memory and enable the Company to vertically integrate into NAND, securing long-term access to solid state technology at a lower cost.

Assets Acquired and Liabilities Assumed at Fair Value

During the six months ended December 30, 2016, the Company increased goodwill by $60 million due to an adjustment to the assessment of fair value for certain acquired intangible assets, inventory and property and equipment and a portion of the deferred tax liability. Management is continuing to assess the values assigned to the remaining assets acquired and liabilities assumed and may make further adjustments during the measurement period (through May 11, 2017) as further information becomes available. Any changes in the fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed during the measurement period may result in adjustments to goodwill.

Pro Forma Financial Information

The financial information in the table below summarizes the combined results of operations for the Company and SanDisk, on a pro forma basis, as though the combination had occurred as of the beginning of 2016. The pro forma financial information for the periods presented includes the effects of adjustments related to amortization charges from acquired intangible assets, depreciation charges from acquired fixed assets, interest expenses from financing the acquisition, stock-based compensation expenses from the conversion of unvested equity awards and the elimination of certain expenses directly related to the transaction. The pro forma financial information as presented below is for informational purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that would have been achieved if the acquisition had taken place at the beginning of 2016.
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 January 1,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions, except per share amounts)
Revenue, net$4,860
 $9,672
Net income190
 288
Basic income per common share$0.68
 $1.03
Diluted income per common share$0.67
 $1.01


Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 13.Employee Termination, Asset Impairment and Other Charges

The Company recorded the following charges related to employee terminations benefits, asset impairment and other charges:
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions)
Employee termination and other charges:       
Restructuring Plan 2016$19
 $
 $46
 $
Closure of Foreign Manufacturing Facility2
 
 6
 
Business Realignment7
 27
 44
 75
Total employee termination and other charges28
 27
 96
 75
Stock-based compensation accelerations and adjustments       
Restructuring Plan 2016
 
 (1) 
Business Realignment4
 
 5
 
Total stock-based compensation accelerations and adjustments4
 
 4
 
Asset impairment:       
Closure of Foreign Manufacturing Facility13
 
 13
 
Business Realignment
 
 
 8
Total asset impairment13
 
 13
 8
Total employee termination and other charges, stock-based compensation adjustments and asset impairments$45
 $27
 $113
 $83

Restructuring Plan 2016

In 2016, the Company initiated a set of actions relating to the restructuring plan associated with the integration of substantial portions of its HGST and WD subsidiaries (“Restructuring Plan 2016”). Restructuring Plan 2016 consists of asset and footprint reduction, product road map consolidation and organization rationalization. In addition to the amounts recognized under Restructuring Plan 2016 for employee termination, asset impairments and other charges, as presented above, the Company recognized $4 million and $30 million in the three and six months ended December 30, 2016, respectively, of accelerated depreciation on facility assets in cost of revenue.

The following table illustratespresents an analysis of the computationcomponents of basic and diluted income per common share (in millions, except per share data):the activity against the reserve during the six months ended December 30, 2016:
 Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
Net income$74
 $384
 $608
 $1,245
Weighted average shares outstanding:       
Basic233
 231
 232
 233
Employee stock options and other1
 5
 2
 5
Diluted234
 236
 234
 238
Income per common share:    
 
Basic$0.32
 $1.66
 $2.62
 $5.34
Diluted$0.32
 $1.63
 $2.60
 $5.23
Anti-dilutive potential common shares excluded*6
 1
 5
 1
 Employee Termination Benefits Contract Termination and Other Total
 (in millions)
Accrual balance at July 1, 2016$26
 $
 $26
Charges12
 34
 46
Cash payments(30) (32) (62)
Accrual balance at December 30, 2016$8
 $2
 $10

Table of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)


Closure of Foreign Manufacturing Facility

In January 2016, the Company announced the closing of its head component front end wafer manufacturing facility in Odawara, Japan, in order to reduce manufacturing costs. During the six months ended December 30, 2016, the Company recognized employee termination benefits and contract termination and other charges of $6 million related to this closure. In addition, during the three months ended December 30, 2016, the Company recognized asset impairment charges of $13 million related to this closure based on a current estimation of fair value. As of December 30, 2016, the Company substantially completed all activities related to the closure of the facility. The following table presents an analysis of the components of the activity against the reserve during the six months ended December 30, 2016:
 Employee Termination Benefits Contract Termination and Other Total
 (in millions)
Accrual balance at July 1, 2016$14
 $
 $14
Charges2
 4
 6
Cash payments(15) (7) (22)
Non-cash items and other(1) 3
 2
Accrual balance at December 30, 2016$
 $
 $

Business Realignment

The Company periodically incurs charges as part of the integration process of recent acquisitions and to realign its operations with anticipated market demand. The following table presents an analysis of the components of the activity against the reserve during the six months ended December 30, 2016:
 Employee Termination Benefits Contract Termination and Other Total
 (in millions)
Accrual balance at July 1, 2016$11
 $3
 $14
Charges44
 
 44
Cash payments(51) (1) (52)
Non-cash items and other6
 
 6
Accrual balance at December 30, 2016$10
 $2
 $12


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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

*Note 14.For purposes of computing diluted income per common share, certain potentially dilutive securities have been excluded from the calculation because their effect would have been anti-dilutive.
Legal Proceedings
4. Debt
The Company's credit agreement, which was entered into in January 2014 and subsequently amended (the “Credit Agreement”), provides for $4.0 billion of unsecured loan facilities consisting of a $2.5 billion term loan facility and a $1.5 billion revolving credit facility. The loans under the Credit Agreement have a five-year term. Subject to certain conditions, the credit facilities may be expanded by, or incremental term loans may be obtained for, up to $1.0 billion if existing or new lenders provide additional term or revolving commitments.
The term loans and the revolving credit loans may be prepaid in whole or in part at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions. The Company repaid the $255 million outstanding balance under the revolving credit facility in January 2016. As of April 1, 2016, the term loan facility had a variable interest rate of 1.9% and a remaining outstanding balance of $2.2 billion. The Company is required to make quarterly principal payments on the term loan facility totaling $47 million for the remainder of fiscal 2016, $219 million in fiscal 2017, $250 million in fiscal 2018 and the remaining balance of $1.7 billion in fiscal 2019.
The Credit Agreement requires the Company to comply with a leverage ratio and an interest coverage ratio calculated on a consolidated basis for the Company and its subsidiaries. In addition, the Credit Agreement contains customary covenants, including covenants that limit or restrict the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ ability to incur liens, incur indebtedness, make certain restricted payments, merge or consolidate and enter into certain speculative hedging arrangements, and customary events of default. As of April 1, 2016, the Company was in compliance with all applicable financial covenants under the Credit Agreement.
For information related to the debt entered into in connection with the planned merger (the “Merger”) with SanDisk Corporation (“SanDisk”), see Note 14 to these condensed consolidated financial statements.
5. Legal Proceedings
When the Company becomes aware of a claim or potential claim, the Company assesses the likelihood of any loss or exposure. The Company discloses information regarding each material claim where the likelihood of a loss contingency is probable or reasonably possible. If a loss contingency is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, the Company records an accrual for the loss. In such cases, there may be an exposure to potential loss in excess of the amount accrued. Where a loss is not probable but is reasonably possible or where a loss in excess of the amount accrued is reasonably possible, the Company discloses an estimate of the amount of the loss or range of possible losses for the claim if a reasonable estimate can be made, unless the amount of such reasonably possible losses is not material to the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Unless otherwise stated below, for each of the matters described below, the Company has either recorded an accrual for losses that are probable and reasonably estimable or has determined that, while a loss is reasonably possible (including potential losses in excess of the amounts accrued by the Company), a reasonable estimate of the amount of loss or range of possible losses with respect to the claim or in excess of amounts already accrued by the Company cannot be made. The ability to predict the ultimate outcome of such matters involves judgments, estimates and inherent uncertainties. The actual outcome of such matters could differ materially from management’s estimates.

Solely for purposes of this note, “WD” refers to Western Digital Corporation or one or more of its subsidiaries excluding HGST prior to the closing of the Company'sCompany’s acquisition of HGST on March 8, 2012 (the “HGST Closing Date”) and SanDisk prior to the closing of the Company’s acquisition of SanDisk on May 12, 2016 (the “SanDisk Closing Date”). HGST refers to Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Holdings Pte. Ltd. or one or more of its subsidiaries as of the HGST Closing Date, and SanDisk refers to SanDisk Corporation or one or more of its subsidiaries as of the SanDisk Closing Date and “the Company” refers to Western Digital Corporation and all of its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis including HGST.HGST and SanDisk.

Intellectual Property Litigation

In June 2008, Convolve, Inc. (“Convolve”) filed a complaint inwith the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against WD, HGST, and two other companies alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,314,473 and 4,916,635. The complaint sought unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief. In October 2008, Convolve amended its complaint to allege infringement of only the ‘473’473 patent. The ‘473’473 patent allegedly relates to interface technology to select between certain modes of a disk drive’s operations relating to speed and noise. In July 2011, a verdict was rendered against WD and HGST in an amount that is not material to the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows, for which the Company previously recorded an accrual. In March 2015, WD and HGST filed Noticesnotices of Appealappeal with the United StatesU.S. District Court for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”). In April 2015, Convolve filed a motion for reconsideration of the final judgment, and in May 2015, the Federal Circuit deactivated the appeal pending the District Court’s decision on reconsideration. WD and HGST intend to continue to defend themselves vigorously in this matter.

In May 2016, Lambeth Magnetic Structures, LLC (“Lambeth”) filed a complaint inwith the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against the CompanyWD and certain of its subsidiaries alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,128,988. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief. The ’988 patent, entitled “Magnetic Material Structures, Devices and Methods,” allegedly relates to a magnetic material structure for hard disk drive devices.  The Company intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter.
Seagate Matter
In October 2006, Seagate TechnologyDecember 2016, Memory Technologies, LLC (“Seagate”MTL”) brought an actionfiled two complaints – one with the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) and the other with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California – against WD and certain of its subsidiaries alleging infringement of various patents. In the Company and a now former employee, alleging misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. In January 2012, an arbitrator issued a final award against the Company, including pre-award interest, of $630.4 million. The matter was appealed and, in October 2014, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the arbitrator’s award. In October 2014,the Company paid Seagate $773.4 million to satisfy the final arbitration award and interest accrued through October 2014. This amount was paid by oneITC complaint, MTL asserts that certain of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries using cash held outsideSecure Digital (“SD”) and microSD products infringe U.S. Patent Nos. RE45,452; RE45,486; 7,464,469; 9,063,850; and 8,307,180. The ITC complaint seeks an exclusion order barring the accused products, and components thereof, from entry into the U.S. On January 5, 2017, the ITC issued a notice of institution of investigation regarding the complaint. On February 6, 2017, the Company filed its response to the complaint. In the other complaint, MTL asserts that certain of the United States.
Seagate disputedCompany’s SD, microSD and/or eMMC products infringe the methodsame patents asserted in the Company used for calculating post-award interestITC complaint, as well as U.S. Patent Nos. 7,275,186; 7,827,370; and contended that the Company owed Seagate approximately $29 million in additional interest.7,739,487. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages. The Company denied Seagate’s contention. intends to defend itself vigorously in these matters.


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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Antitrust

In AprilJune 2010, Ritz Camera & Image, LLC (“Ritz”) filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that SanDisk violated federal antitrust laws by conspiring to monopolize and monopolizing the market for flash memory products. The lawsuit purports to be on behalf of direct purchasers of flash memory products sold by SanDisk and SanDisk-controlled joint ventures from June 2006 through the present. The complaint alleged that SanDisk created and maintained a monopoly by fraudulently obtaining patents and using them to restrain competition and by allegedly converting other patents for its competitive use. The complaint sought damages, injunctive relief, and fees and costs. In February 2011, the District Court granted in part SanDisk’s motion to dismiss, which resulted in Dr. Harari being dismissed as a defendant. Between 2013 and 2014, the District Court granted Ritz’s motion to substitute in as named plaintiff Albert Giuliano, the Chapter 7 Trustee of the Ritz bankruptcy estate, and the Trustee’s motions to add as named plaintiffs CPM Electronics Inc., E.S.E. Electronics, Inc. and Mflash, Inc. In May 2015, the District Court declared thatgranted in part plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. In April 2016, the District Court granted SanDisk’s motion for summary judgment and entered judgment in SanDisk’s favor as to all amounts due and owing fromof the Company to Seagate had been paid, and a corresponding judgment was entered.plaintiffs’ claims. In May 2015, Seagate appealed2016, the decision and judgmentplaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the MinnesotaU.S. Court of Appeals. OnAppeals for the Federal Circuit. The appeal is currently pending.

In July 2010, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Samsung”) filed an action against Panasonic and SD-3C LLC (“SD-3C”) with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that the defendants violated federal antitrust laws and California antitrust and unfair competition laws relating to the licensing practices and operations of SD-3C. The complaint seeks damages, restitution, injunctive and declaratory relief, and fees and costs. SanDisk is not a defendant in this case, but it established SD-3C along with Panasonic and Toshiba, and the complaint includes various factual allegations concerning SanDisk. As a member of SD-3C, SanDisk could be responsible for a portion of any monetary award. Other requested relief, if granted, could result in a loss of revenue to SanDisk. In August 2011, the District Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, dismissing Samsung’s patent misuse claim with prejudice and all other claims with leave to amend. Samsung filed an amended complaint in September 2011. In January 25, 2016,2012, the MinnesotaDistrict Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss Samsung’s amended complaint without leave to amend. Samsung appealed. In April 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court’s decision, determined that Seagate is owed additional post-award interest,dismissal and directedremanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings. Samsung filed a third amended complaint in January 2015. In September 2015, the District Court granted in part the defendants’ motion to enter judgment in accordancedismiss with its opinion. The Company had no automatic rightleave to appeal and, on January 27, 2016, the Company paid the additional post-award interest, which was not material to the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The additional post-award interest was paid by one of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries using cash held outside of the United States. On February 1, 2016, the matter was dismissed with prejudice pursuant toamend. In October 2015, Samsung filed a stipulation of dismissal filed by the Company and Seagate. This matter is now closed.
SanDisk Matters
fourth amended complaint. In November 2015, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss. In September 2016, the District Court stayed the litigation pending the outcome of an ongoing arbitration between Samsung and Toshiba. The District Court denied the motion to dismiss without prejudice to refiling after the stay is lifted.

In March 2011, a complaint was filed against SanDisk, SD-3C, Panasonic Corporation, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Toshiba and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit purports to be on behalf of a nationwide class of indirect purchasers of SD cards. The complaint asserts claims under federal antitrust laws and California antitrust and unfair competition laws, as well as common law claims. The complaint seeks damages, restitution, injunctive relief, and fees and costs. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants conspired to artificially inflate the royalty costs associated with manufacturing SD cards, which in turn allegedly caused the plaintiffs to pay higher prices for SD cards. The allegations are similar to and incorporate allegations in Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. v. Panasonic Corp., et al., described above. In May 2012, the District Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint with prejudice. The plaintiffs appealed. In May 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court’s dismissal and remanded the case to the District Court for further proceedings. In February 2015, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint in the District Court. In September 2015, the District Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss with leave to amend. In November 2015, the plaintiffs filed a third amended complaint. In November 2015, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ federal law claims. In October 2016, the District Court granted the defendants’ motion with leave to amend and the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ remaining claims. Discovery is presently stayed until after completion of the pleading stage. The Company intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter.

Securities

Beginning in March 2015, SanDisk and two of its officers, Sanjay Mehrotra and Judy Bruner, were named in three putative class action lawsuits filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Two complaints in the Superior Courtare allegedly brought on behalf of the Statea class of California, Countypurchasers of Santa Clara, challenging the AgreementSanDisk’s securities between October 2014 and PlanMarch 2015, and one is brought on behalf of Merger the Company entered into with SanDisk on October 21, 2015 (the “Merger Agreement”).a purported class of purchasers of SanDisk’s securities between April 2014 and April 2015. The complaints

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WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

generally allege violations of federal securities laws arising out of alleged misstatements or omissions by the defendants during the alleged class periods. The complaints seek, among other things, thatdamages and fees and costs. In July 2015, the membersDistrict Court consolidated the cases and appointed Union Asset Management Holding AG and KBC Asset Management NV as lead plaintiffs. The lead plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in August 2015. In January 2016, the District Court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss and dismissed the amended complaint with leave to amend. In February 2016, the District Court issued an order appointing as new lead plaintiffs Bristol Pension Fund; City of Milford, Connecticut Pension & Retirement Board; Pavers and Road Builders Pension, Annuity and Welfare Funds; the SanDisk board breached their fiduciary dutiesNewport News Employees’ Retirement Fund; and Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension Fund (collectively, the “Institutional Investor Group”). In March 2016, the Institutional Investor Group filed an amended complaint. The defendants filed a motion to SanDisk’s shareholders by agreeingdismiss in April 2016. In June 2016, the District Court granted the motion and dismissed the amended complaint with leave to sell SanDisk for inadequate consideration, failingamend. In July 2016, the Institutional Investor Group filed a further amended complaint. The defendants filed a motion to properly value SanDisk, agreeingdismiss in August 2016. In January 2017, the District Court denied the motion to inappropriate deal protection provisions that may inhibit other bidders from coming forward with a superior offer, not protecting against alleged conflicts of interest resulting from the SanDisk directors’ own interrelationships or connection with the proposed transaction, and failingdismiss without prejudice to disclose all material information regarding the proposed transaction.  The complaints also alleged that the Company aided and abetted the SanDisk board members’ breaches of their fiduciary duties.  The plaintiffs were seeking injunctive relief to prevent the Merger from closing.  The plaintiffs were also seeking, among other things, to recover costs and disbursement from the defendants including attorneys’ fees and experts’ fees.  Atfiling a renewed motion to dismiss, which the request of the plaintiffs, the court ordered one of these matters dismissed without prejudice on February 26, 2016, and the other on March 8, 2016.defendants filed soon thereafter. The Company intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter.

Other Matters

In December 2011, the German Central Organization for Private Copying Rights (Zentralstelle für private Überspielungsrechte), (“ZPÜ”), an organization consisting of several copyright collecting societies, instituted arbitration proceedings against Western Digital'sWD’s German subsidiary (“WD Germany”) before the Copyright Arbitration Board (“CAB”) claiming copyright levies for multimedia hard drives, external hard drives and network hard drives sold or introduced into commerce in Germany by WD Germany from January 2008 through December 2010.  In February 2013, WD Germany filed a declaratory relief action against ZPÜ in the Higher Regional Court of Munich (the “Higher Court”), seeking an order from the courtHigher Court to determine the copyright levy issue.  OnIn May 21, 2013, ZPÜ filed a counter-claim against WD Germany with the Higher Court, seeking copyright levies for multimedia hard drives, external hard drives and network hard drives sold or introduced into commerce from January 2008 through December 2010 based on tariffs published by ZPÜ onin November 3, 2011. In January 2015, the Higher Court ruled in favor of ZPÜ. In its ruling, the Higher Court declared that WD Germany must pay certain levies on certain WD products which it sold in Germany between January 2008 and December 2010. The judgment specifies levy amounts on certain WD products sold from January 2008 through December 2010 and directs WD Germany to provide applicable sales data to ZPÜ. The exact amount of the judgment has not been determined. ZPÜ and WD Germany filed appeals with the German Federal Court of Justice in February 2015. WDThe Company intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter.

In December 2014, ZPÜ submitted a pleading to the CAB seeking copyright levies for multimedia hard drives, external hard drives and network hard drives sold or introduced into commerce in Germany by WD Germany between January 2012 and December 2013. WDThe Company intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter.

The Company has recorded an accrual for German copyright levies in an amount that is not material to the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. It is reasonably possible that the Company may incur losses totaling up to $119$133 million, including the amounts accrued.

In the normal course of business, the Company is subject to other legal proceedings, lawsuits and other claims. Although the ultimate aggregate amount of probable monetary liability or financial impact with respect to these other matters is subject to many uncertainties, management believes that any monetary liability or financial impact to the Company from these other matters, individually and in the aggregate, would not be material to the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, any monetary liability and financial impact to the Company from these other matters could differ materially from the Company'sCompany’s expectations.



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6. Income TaxesWESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

Note 15.
Separate Financial Information of Guarantor Subsidiaries

The Company had income tax expenseNew Unsecured Notes are registered under the Securities Act of $6 million1933, as amended, and $30 millionhave no transfer restrictions or rights to additional interest. The New Unsecured Notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed, jointly and severally, on a senior unsecured basis, subject to certain customary guarantor release conditions, by the WD Guarantors (or the “Guarantor Subsidiaries”). The guarantee by a Guarantor Subsidiary will be released in the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, respectively. The Company's income tax expense forevent of (i) the three and nine months ended April 3, 2015 was $28 million and $85 million, respectively.designation of a Guarantor Subsidiary as an unrestricted subsidiary under the indenture governing the New Unsecured Notes, (ii) the release of a Guarantor Subsidiary from its guarantee of indebtedness under the Credit Agreement or other indebtedness that would have required the Guarantor Subsidiary to guarantee the New Unsecured Notes, (iii) the sale, issuance or other disposition of capital stock of a Guarantor Subsidiary such that it is no longer a restricted subsidiary under the indenture governing the New Unsecured Notes, (iv) the sale of all or substantially all of a Guarantor Subsidiary’s assets, (v) the Company’s exercise of its defeasance options under the indenture governing the New Unsecured Notes, (vi) the dissolution or liquidation of a Guarantor Subsidiary or (vii) the sale of all the equity interest in a Guarantor Subsidiary. The Company’s tax provision forother domestic subsidiaries and its foreign subsidiaries (collectively, the three months ended April 1, 2016“Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries”) do not guarantee the New Unsecured Notes. The following condensed consolidating financial information reflects the summarized financial information of Western Digital Corporation (“Parent”), the Guarantor Subsidiaries on a tax benefit of $10 million for deductible acquisition expenses. The Company's tax provision for the nine months ended April 1, 2016 reflects a tax benefit of $34 million from restructuring activities and a tax benefit of $10 million for deductible acquisition expenses. The difference between the effective tax ratecombined basis, and the U.S. Federal statutory rate is primarily dueNon-Guarantor Subsidiaries on a combined basis.

For more information regarding the New Unsecured Notes, refer to tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand that expire at various dates from 2016 through 2025 and the current year generation of income tax credits.
In the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recorded a net decrease of $16 million and a net increase of $9 million, respectively, in its liability for unrecognized tax benefits. As of April 1, 2016, the Company's liability for unrecognized tax benefits was approximately $359 million. Interest and penalties recognized on such amounts were not materialNote 6 to the condensed consolidated financial statements during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016.
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) previously completed its field examination of the Company's federal income tax returns for fiscal years 2006 through 2009 and proposed certain adjustments. The Company has received Revenue Agent Reports (“RARs”) from the IRS that seek to increase the Company's U.S. taxable income which would result in additional federal tax expense totaling approximately $795 million, subject to interest. The issues in dispute relate primarily to transfer pricing with the Company’s foreign subsidiaries and intercompany payable balances. The Company disagrees with the proposed adjustments and in September 2015, filed a protest with the IRS Appeals Office. The Company believes that its tax positions are properly supported and will vigorously contest the position taken by the IRS. In September 2015, the IRS commenced an examination of the Company’s fiscal years 2010 through 2012. During the nine months ended April 1, 2016, the IRS completed the examination of the fiscal period ended September 5, 2007 of Komag, Incorporated, which the Company acquired on September 5, 2007, with no material adjustments.statements.

The Company believes that adequate provision has been made for any adjustments that may result from tax examinations. However, the outcome

Table of tax examinations cannot be predicted with certainty. If any issues addressed in the Company’s tax examinations are resolved in a manner not consistent with management’s expectations, the Company could be required to adjust its provision for income taxes in the period such resolution occurs. As of April 1, 2016, it is not possible to estimate the amount of change, if any, in the unrecognized tax benefits that is reasonably possible within the next twelve months. Any significant change in the amount of the Company’s liability for unrecognized tax benefits would most likely result from additional information or settlements relating to the examination of the Company’s tax returns.
Contents
7. Fair Value MeasurementsWESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
Financial assets and liabilities that are remeasured and reported at fair value at each reporting period are classified and disclosed in one of the following three levels:NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
Level 1. Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.(Unaudited)
Level 2. Inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities; quoted prices in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3. Inputs that are unobservable for the asset or liability and that are significant to the fair value of the assets or liabilities.
The following tables present information about the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of April 1, 2016 and July 3, 2015, and indicate the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques utilized to determine such values (in millions):
 Fair Value Measurements at  
 April 1, 2016  
 Using  
 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
Assets:       
Cash equivalents:       
Money market funds$231
 $
 $
 $231
Total cash equivalents231
 
 
 231
Short-term investments:       
Certificates of deposit
 146
 
 146
Total short-term investments
 146
 
 146
Foreign exchange contracts
 31
 
 31
Total assets at fair value$231
 $177
 $
 $408

 Fair Value Measurements at  
 July 3, 2015  
 Using  
 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total
Assets:       
Cash equivalents:       
Money market funds$135
 $
 $
 $135
Total cash equivalents135
 
 
 135
Short-term investments:       
U.S. Treasury securities
 50
 
 50
U.S. Government agency securities
 4
 
 4
Commercial paper
 109
 
 109
Certificates of deposit
 99
 
 99
Total short-term investments
 262
 
 262
Long-term investments:       
U.S. Treasury securities
 237
 
 237
U.S. Government agency securities
 91
 
 91
Total long-term investments
 328
 
 328
Total assets at fair value$135
 $590
 $
 $725
Liabilities:       
Foreign exchange contracts$
 $31
 $
 $31
Total liabilities at fair value$
 $31
 $
 $31
Money Market Funds. The Company’s money market funds are funds that invest in U.S. Treasury and U.S. Government Agency securities. Money market funds are valued based on quoted market prices.
U.S. Treasury Securities. The Company’s U.S. Treasury securities are direct obligations of the U.S. federal government and are held in custody by a third party. U.S. Treasury securities are valued using a market approach which is based on observable inputs including market interest rates from multiple pricing sources.
U.S. Government Agency Securities. The Company’s U.S. Government agency securities are investments in fixed income securities sponsored by the U.S. Government and are held in custody by a third party. U.S. Government agency securities are valued using a market approach which is based on observable inputs including market interest rates from multiple pricing sources.
Commercial Paper. The Company’s commercial paper securities are investments issued by corporations which are held in custody by a third party. Commercial paper securities are valued using a market approach which is based on observable inputs including market interest rates from multiple pricing sources.
Certificates of Deposit. The Company’s certificates of deposit are investments which are held in custody by a third party. Certificates of deposit are valued using fixed interest rates.
Foreign Exchange Contracts. The Company’s foreign exchange contracts are short-term contracts to hedge the Company’s foreign currency risk. For contracts that have a right of offset by its individual counterparties under master netting arrangements, the Company presents its foreign exchange contracts on a net basis by counterparty in the consolidated balance sheets. Foreign exchange contracts are valued using an income approach that is based on a present value of future cash flows model. The market-based observable inputs for the model include forward rates and credit default swap rates. For more information on the Company's foreign exchange contracts, see Note 8 to these condensed consolidated financial statements.
In the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, there were no transfers between levels. The carrying amounts of cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses approximate fair value for all periods presented because of the short-term maturity of these assets and liabilities. As of April 1, 2016, the carrying amount of debt approximated fair value because of its variable interest rate.
Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheet
As of December 30, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
ASSETS
Current assets:         
Cash and cash equivalents$46
 $883
 $4,011
 $
 $4,940
Short-term investments
 
 161
 
 161
Accounts receivable, net
 1,320
 684
 
 2,004
Intercompany receivable813
 1,878
 2,923
 (5,614) 
Inventories
 828
 1,455
 (198) 2,085
Other current assets4
 253
 159
 
 416
Total current assets863
 5,162
 9,393
 (5,812) 9,606
Property, plant and equipment, net
 1,207
 2,031
 
 3,238
Notes receivable and investments in Flash Ventures
 
 1,082
 
 1,082
Goodwill
 325
 9,680
 
 10,005
Other intangible assets, net
 19
 4,450
 
 4,469
Investments in consolidated subsidiaries17,942
 17,874
 
 (35,816) 
Loans due from consolidated affiliates5,230
 15
 
 (5,245) 
Other non-current assets46
 99
 466
 (36) 575
Total assets$24,081
 $24,701
 $27,102
 $(46,909) $28,975
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:         
Accounts payable$
 $225
 $1,787
 $
 $2,012
Intercompany payable180
 4,823
 611
 (5,614) 
Accounts payable to related parties
 
 175
 
 175
Accrued expenses126
 507
 368
 
 1,001
Accrued compensation
 376
 205
 
 581
Accrued warranty
 4
 186
 
 190
Current portion of long-term debt129
 
 
 
 129
Total current liabilities435
 5,935
 3,332
 (5,614) 4,088
Long-term debt12,915
 
 29
 
 12,944
Loans due to consolidated affiliates
 34
 5,211
 (5,245) 
Other liabilities
 670
 578
 (37) 1,211
Total liabilities13,350
 6,639
 9,150
 (10,896) 18,243
Shareholders’ equity10,731
 18,062
 17,952
 (36,013) 10,732
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity$24,081
 $24,701
 $27,102
 $(46,909) $28,975

8. Foreign Exchange Contracts
Although the majority

If the derivative is designated as a cash flow hedge, the effective portion of the change in fair value of the derivative is initially deferred in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax. These amounts are subsequently recognized into earnings when the underlying cash flow being hedged is recognized into earnings. Recognized gains and losses on foreign exchange contracts entered into for manufacturing-related activities are reported in cost of revenue and presented within cash flow from operations. Hedge effectiveness is measured by comparing the hedging instrument’s cumulative change in fair value from inception to maturity to the underlying exposure’s terminal value. The Company determined the ineffectiveness associated with its cash flow hedges to be immaterial to the condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015.WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
A change in the fair value of fair value hedges is recognized in earnings in the period incurred and is reported as a component of cost of revenue or operating expenses, depending on the nature of the underlying hedged item. All fair value hedges were determined to be effective as of April 1, 2016 and July 3, 2015. The changes in fair value on these contracts were immaterial to the condensed consolidated financial statements during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015.NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
As of April 1, 2016, the net amount of unrealized gains with respect to the Company’s foreign exchange contracts that is expected to be reclassified into earnings within the next twelve months was $27 million. In addition, as of April 1, 2016, the Company did not have any foreign exchange contracts with credit-risk-related contingent features. The Company opened $996 million and $2.9 billion, and closed $1.0 billion and $3.1 billion, in foreign exchange contracts during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, respectively. The Company opened $1.5 billion and $3.5 billion, and closed $1.3 billion and $3.5 billion, in foreign exchange contracts during the three and nine months ended April 3, 2015, respectively. The fair value and balance sheet location of the Company's foreign exchange contracts as of April 1, 2016 and July 3, 2015 were as follows (in millions):(Unaudited)

 Asset DerivativesLiability Derivatives
  
April 1, 2016July 3, 2015April 1, 2016July 3, 2015
Derivatives Designated as
Hedging Instruments
Balance Sheet
Location
Fair
Value
Balance Sheet
Location
Fair
Value
Balance Sheet
Location
Fair
Value
Balance Sheet
Location
Fair
Value
Foreign exchange contractsOther current assets$31
Other current assets$
Accrued expenses$
Accrued expenses$31
The following table presents the gross amounts of the Company's derivative instruments, amounts offset due to master netting arrangements with the Company's various counterparties and the net amounts recognized in the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of April 1, 2016 (in millions):
Derivatives Designated as
Hedging Instruments
Gross Amounts of Recognized
Assets (Liabilities)
 
Gross Amounts Offset
in the Balance Sheet
 
Net Amounts of Assets
Presented in the Balance Sheet
Foreign exchange contracts     
  Financial assets$34
 $(3) $31
  Financial liabilities(3) 3
 
    Total derivative instruments$31
 $
 $31
Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheet
As of July 1, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
ASSETS
Current assets:         
Cash and cash equivalents$
 $1,206
 $6,945
 $
 $8,151
Short-term investments
 
 227
 
 227
Accounts receivable, net
 985
 476
 
 1,461
Intercompany receivable934
 886
 2,546
 (4,366) 
Inventories
 896
 1,450
 (217) 2,129
Other current assets4
 276
 379
 (43) 616
Total current assets938
 4,249
 12,023
 (4,626) 12,584
Property, plant and equipment, net
 1,265
 2,238
 
 3,503
Notes receivable and investments in Flash Ventures
 
 1,171
 
 1,171
Goodwill
 324
 9,627
 
 9,951
Other intangible assets, net
 28
 5,006
 
 5,034
Investments in consolidated subsidiaries18,009
 27,020
 
 (45,029) 
Loans due from consolidated affiliates6,000
 55
 
 (6,055) 
Other non-current assets50
 33
 702
 (166) 619
Total assets$24,997
 $32,974
 $30,767
 $(55,876) $32,862
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:         
Accounts payable$
 $239
 $1,649
 $
 $1,888
Intercompany payable119
 4,043
 204
 (4,366) 
Accounts payable to related parties
 
 168
 
 168
Accrued expenses109
 462
 404
 20
 995
Accrued compensation
 222
 170
 
 392
Accrued warranty
 4
 168
 
 172
Bridge loan
 2,995
 
 
 2,995
Current portion of long-term debt14
 
 325
 
 339
Total current liabilities242
 7,965
 3,088
 (4,346) 6,949
Long-term debt13,610
 
 50
 
 13,660
Loans due to consolidated affiliates
 6,000
 55
 (6,055) 
Other liabilities
 862
 475
 (229) 1,108
Total liabilities13,852
 14,827
 3,668
 (10,630) 21,717
Shareholders’ equity11,145
 18,147
 27,099
 (45,246) 11,145
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity$24,997
 $32,974
 $30,767
 $(55,876) $32,862

The Company had a gross and net liability

The impact of foreign exchange contracts on the condensed consolidated financial statements was as follows (in millions):WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

 Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in Accumulated OCI on Derivatives
Location of
Gain (Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Income
Amount of (Gain) Loss Reclassified From Accumulated OCI into Income
Derivatives in Cash
Flow Hedging Relationships
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended Three Months Ended Nine Months EndedThree Months Ended Nine Months Ended Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
Foreign exchange contracts$31
 $(9) $19
 $(39)Cost of revenue$8
 $61
 $10
 $24
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Operations
For the three months ended December 30, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Revenue, net$
 $3,786
 $4,245
 $(3,143) $4,888
Cost of revenue
 3,085
 3,495
 (3,225) 3,355
Gross profit
 701
 750
 82
 1,533
Operating expenses:         
Research and development
 372
 213
 
 585
Selling, general and administrative3
 252
 103
 
 358
Intercompany operating expense (income)
 (218) 218
 
 
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges
 9
 36
 
 45
Total operating expenses3
 415
 570
 
 988
Operating income (loss)(3) 286
 180
 82
 545
Interest and other income (expense):         
Interest income86
 
 2
 (83) 5
Interest expense(203) 
 (85) 83
 (205)
Other expense, net(2) (5) (17) 
 (24)
Total interest and other expense, net(119) (5) (100) 
 (224)
Income (loss) before taxes(122) 281
 80
 82
 321
Income tax expense (benefit)(87) 116
 57
 
 86
Equity in earnings from subsidiaries270
 19
 
 (289) 
Net income$235
 $184
 $23
 $(207) $235
The total net realized transaction and foreign exchange contract currency gains and losses were not material to the condensed consolidated financial statements during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015.

9. Shareholders' EquityWESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
Stock-Based Compensation ExpenseNOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
The following table presents the Company's stock-based compensation and related tax benefit for the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015 (in millions):(Unaudited)

 Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
 April 1, 2016 April 3, 2015 April 1, 2016 April 3, 2015
 Expense Tax Benefit Expense Tax Benefit Expense Tax Benefit Expense Tax Benefit
Options and ESPP$19
 $5
 $17
 $8
 $51
 $13
 $53
 $20
RSUs23
 6
 21
 6
 70
 18
 64
 17
Total$42
 $11
 $38
 $14
 $121
 $31
 $117
 $37
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Operations
For the six months ended December 30, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Revenue, net$
 $7,484
 $8,538
 $(6,420) $9,602
Cost of revenue
 6,150
 7,048
 (6,464) 6,734
Gross profit
 1,334
 1,490
 44
 2,868
Operating expenses:         
Research and development
 813
 411
 
 1,224
Selling, general and administrative4
 526
 224
 
 754
Intercompany operating expense (income)
 (569) 569
 
 
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges
 58
 55
 
 113
Total operating expenses4
 828
 1,259
 
 2,091
Operating income (loss)(4) 506
 231
 44
 777
Interest and other income (expense):         
Interest income180
 1
 9
 (180) 10
Interest expense(431) (5) (185) 180
 (441)
Other expense, net(274) (4) (18) 
 (296)
Total interest and other expense, net(525) (8) (194) 
 (727)
Income (loss) before taxes(529) 498
 37
 44
 50
Income tax expense (benefit)(181) 121
 241
 
 181
Equity in earnings from subsidiaries217
 (208) 
 (9) 
Net income (loss)$(131) $169
 $(204) $35
 $(131)
As

For purposes of this footnote, references to restricted stock unit awards (“RSUs”) include performance stock unit awards (“PSUs”). PSUs are granted to certain employees only after the achievement of pre-determined performance metrics. Once the PSU is granted, vesting is then subject to continued service by the employee, and expense is recognized over the vesting period. At the end of each reporting period, the Company evaluates the probability that PSUs will be earned. The Company records stock-based compensation expense based on the probability that the performance metrics will be achieved. As of April 1, 2016, the aggregate unamortized fair value of all unvested RSUs was $178 million, which will be recognized on a straight-line basis over a weighted average vesting period of approximately 1.9 years, assuming the performance metrics are met for the PSUs.WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
Stock Option ActivityNOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
The following table summarizes stock option activity under the Company’s stock option plans (in millions, except per share amounts and remaining contractual lives):(Unaudited)

 Number of Shares Weighted Average Exercise Price Per Share Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Options outstanding at July 3, 20156.8
 $50.00
    
Granted1.7
 82.68
    
Exercised(1.2) 25.10
    
Canceled or expired(0.3) 63.04
    
Options outstanding at April 1, 20167.0
 $61.68
 4.2 $45
Exercisable at April 1, 20163.8
 $47.36
 3.1 $41
Vested and expected to vest after April 1, 20166.8
 $61.16
 4.2 $45
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Operations
For the three months ended January 1, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Revenue, net$
 $3,411
 $3,611
 $(3,705) $3,317
Cost of revenue
 3,190
 2,918
 (3,697) 2,411
Gross profit
 221
 693
 (8) 906
Operating expenses:         
Research and development
 270
 119
 
 389
Selling, general and administrative1
 138
 100
 
 239
Intercompany operating expense (income)
 (278) 278
 
 
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges
 20
 7
 
 27
Total operating expenses1
 150
 504
 
 655
Operating income (loss)(1) 71
 189
 (8) 251
Interest and other income (expense):         
Interest income
 
 4
 1
 5
Interest expense
 (11) (2) 
 (13)
Other income, net
 
 2
 (1) 1
Total interest and other income (expense), net
 (11) 4
 
 (7)
Income (loss) before taxes(1) 60
 193
 (8) 244
Income tax expense (benefit)
 19
 (26) 
 (7)
Equity in earnings from subsidiaries252
 217
 
 (469) 
Net income$251
 $258
 $219
 $(477) $251

Options granted during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 had a weighted average fair value per share

RSU ActivityWESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
The following table summarizes RSU activity under the Company's stock plans (in millions, except weighted average grant date fair value):NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
(Unaudited)

 Number of Shares Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value
RSUs outstanding at July 3, 20153.0
 $73.80
Granted2.5
 68.16
Vested(1.6) 62.43
Forfeited(0.2) 84.57
RSUs outstanding at April 1, 20163.7
 $74.48
Expected to vest after April 1, 20163.4
 $74.98
Outstanding RSU awards have dividend equivalent rights which entitle holders of RSUs to the same dividend value per share as holders of common stock. Dividend equivalent rights are subject to the same vesting and other terms and conditions as the corresponding unvested RSUs. Dividend equivalent rights are accumulated and paid in additional shares when the underlying shares vest.
RSUs are generally settled in an equal number of shares of the Company’s common stock at the time of vesting of the units. The fair value of the shares underlying the RSU awards at the date of grant or assumption was $51 million and $160 million for awards granted in the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016. These amounts are being recognized to expense over the corresponding vesting periods.
Included in the table above, the Company granted 1.0 million PSUs in the three months ended April 1, 2016, at a weighted average grant-date fair value of $50.06 per share. The total number of PSUs outstanding as of April 1, 2016 was 1.2 million, with a weighted average fair value per share of $55.78.
SARs Activity
During the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recognized a $7 million and $18 million benefit, respectively, related to adjustments to fair market value of stock appreciation rights (“SARs”), as compared to a $9 million benefit and $3 million expense in the respective prior-year periods. The tax expense realized as a result of the aforementioned SARs benefit was $1 million and $2 million during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, respectively, as compared to a $2 million expense and $1 million benefit during the three and nine months ended April 3, 2015, respectively. The Company's SARs will be settled in cash upon exercise. The Company had a total liability of $22 million and $41 million related to SARs included in accrued expenses in the condensed consolidated balance sheet as of April 1, 2016 and July 3, 2015, respectively. As of April 1, 2016, all SARs issued to employees were fully vested, and the fair values are now solely subject to market price fluctuations. As of April 1, 2016, 0.5 million SARs were outstanding with a weighted average exercise price of $7.87. There were no SARs granted during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016.
Stock Repurchase Program
The Company's Board of Directors (the “Board”) previously authorized $5.0 billion for the repurchase of the Company's common stock and approved the extension of its stock repurchase program to February 3, 2020. Effective October 21, 2015, in connection with the Merger, the stock repurchase program was suspended. The Company did not repurchase any shares during the three months ended April 1, 2016. The Company repurchased 0.7 million shares for a total cost of $60 million during the nine months ended April 1, 2016. The remaining amount available to be purchased under the Company’s stock repurchase program as of April 1, 2016 was $2.1 billion.
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Operations
For the six months ended January 1, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Revenue, net$
 $6,837
 $7,024
 $(7,184) $6,677
Cost of revenue
 6,410
 5,578
 (7,172) 4,816
Gross profit
 427
 1,446
 (12) 1,861
Operating expenses:         
Research and development
 579
 195
 
 774
Selling, general and administrative2
 309
 120
 
 431
Intercompany operating expense (income)
 (590) 590
 
 
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges
 70
 13
 
 83
Total operating expenses2
 368
 918
 
 1,288
Operating income (loss)(2) 59
 528
 (12) 573
Interest and other income (expense):         
Interest income
 1
 8
 
 9
Interest expense
 (22) (4) 
 (26)
Other income, net
 
 2
 
 2
Total interest and other income (expense), net
 (21) 6
 
 (15)
Income (loss) before taxes(2) 38
 534
 (12) 558
Income tax expense (benefit)
 52
 (28) 
 24
Equity in earnings from subsidiaries536
 562
 
 (1,098) 
Net income$534
 $548
 $562
 $(1,110) $534

Dividends to Shareholders
On September 13, 2012, the Company announced that the Board had authorized the adoption of a quarterly cash dividend policy. Under the cash dividend policy, holders of the Company’s common stock receive dividends when and as declared by the Board. In the three months ended April 1, 2016, the Company declared a cash dividend of $0.50 per share to shareholders of record as of April 1, 2016, totaling $116 million, which was paid on April 15, 2016. In the nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company declared total cash dividends of $1.50 per share for a total of $347 million. The Company may modify, suspend or cancel its cash dividend policy in any manner and at any time.
Termination of Investment by Unis
On September 29, 2015, the Company entered into an agreement (the “Stock Purchase Agreement”) with Unis (the “Guarantor”) and Unis Union Information System Ltd., a subsidiary of Unis (the “Investor”), pursuant to which, subject to the conditions in the agreement, the Company agreed to issue and sell to the Investor 40,814,802 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Shares”) for $92.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.775 billion, and the Guarantor agreed to guarantee the payment and performance of Investor’s obligations therein (collectively, the “Transaction”).
The closing of the Transaction was subject to certain closing conditions. These closing conditions included clearance by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) and the receipt of requisite regulatory approvals, including clearance by U.S. antitrust authorities and certain Chinese regulatory approvals, including clearance by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of the People’s Republic of China. In addition, the Investor’s obligation to purchase the shares of common stock of the Company and the Guarantor’s guarantee were subject to approval of the Transaction by shareholders of the Guarantor.
On February 22, 2016, CFIUS informed the Company that it planned to undertake an investigation of the transactions contemplated under the Stock Purchase Agreement, triggering a 15-day period during which either the Company or the Investor could terminate the Stock Purchase Agreement. On February 23, 2016, the Investor notified the Company of its termination of the Stock Purchase Agreement pursuant to the terms of the Stock Purchase Agreement. The Company did not incur any early termination penalties in connection with the termination of the Stock Purchase Agreement.
The termination of the investment by Unis is not expected to impact the agreement to form a joint venture with Unis to market and sell the Company’s data center storage systems in China and to develop data center storage solutions for the Chinese market in the future.
Table of Contents
10. Pensions and Other Post-retirement Benefit PlansWESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
The Company’s principal pension and other post-retirement benefit plans are in Japan. All pension and other post-retirement benefit plans outside of the Company’s Japanese plans were immaterial to the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015. The expected long-term rate of return on the Japanese plan assets is 2.5%.NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
The following table presents the unfunded status of the benefit obligations and Japanese plan assets (in millions):(Unaudited)

 April 1,
2016
 July 3,
2015
Benefit obligation$259
 $231
Fair value of plan assets(212) (185)
Unfunded status$47
 $46
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
For the three months ended December 30, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Net income$235
 $184
 $23
 $(207) $235
Other comprehensive loss, before tax:         
Actuarial pension gain1
 1
 1
 (2) 1
Foreign currency translation adjustment(186) (186) (210) 396
 (186)
Net unrealized loss on foreign exchange contracts(136) (136) (132) 268
 (136)
Total other comprehensive loss, before tax(321) (321) (341) 662
 (321)
Income tax benefit related to items of other comprehensive loss9
 10
 9
 (19) 9
Other comprehensive loss, net of tax(312) (311) (332) 643
 (312)
Total comprehensive loss$(77) $(127) $(309) $436
 $(77)
The following table presents the unfunded amounts as recognized on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets (in millions):
 April 1,
2016
 July 3,
2015
Current liabilities$1
 $1
Non-current liabilities46
 45
Net amount recognized$47
 $46
The net periodic benefit cost of the Company’s pension plans was not material to the condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015. The Company’s expected employer contribution for its Japanese defined benefit pension plans is $9 million in fiscal 2016.
11. Acquisitions
Planned SanDisk Merger
On October 21, 2015, the Company entered into the Merger Agreement with SanDisk, a global leader in NAND flash storage solutions, pursuant to which a subsidiary of the Company will merge with and into SanDisk, with SanDisk surviving and becoming a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the Company. The Merger is primarily intended to deepen the Company's expertise in non-volatile memory and enable the Company to vertically integrate into NAND, securing long-term access to solid state technology at a lower cost.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
For the six months ended December 30, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Net income (loss)$(131) $169
 $(204) $35
 $(131)
Other comprehensive loss, before tax:         
Actuarial pension gain6
 6
 6
 (12) 6
Foreign currency translation adjustment(169) (169) (192) 361
 (169)
Net unrealized loss on foreign exchange contracts(140) (140) (136) 276
 (140)
Total other comprehensive loss, before tax(303) (303) (322) 625
 (303)
Income tax benefit related to items of other comprehensive loss3
 3
 1
 (4) 3
Other comprehensive loss, net of tax(300) (300) (321) 621
 (300)
Total comprehensive loss$(431) $(131) $(525) $656
 $(431)

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, the Company will pay $67.50 per share in cash and issue 0.2387 shares of its common stock per share of SanDisk’s common stock. The merger consideration will be financed by a mix of cash, new debt financing and issuance of the Company’s common stock. For information related to the debt entered into in connection with the Merger, see Note 14 to these condensed consolidated financial statements.
Consummation of the Merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including without limitation: (i) the required approval by SanDisk shareholders and the Company’s shareholders, which was obtained on March 15, 2016; (ii) the expiration or early termination of the waiting period applicable to the consummation of the Merger under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, which expired on January 15, 2016, and the receipt of foreign regulatory approvals. In certain circumstances, a termination fee of up to $1.06 billion may be payable by the Company or a termination fee of up to $553.3 million may be payable by SanDisk, upon termination of the transaction as more fully described in the Merger Agreement.
Acquisition of Amplidata NV (Amplidata)
On March 9, 2015, the Company acquired Amplidata, a developer of object storage software for public and private cloud data centers. As a result of the acquisition, Amplidata became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of the Company. The purchase price of the acquisition was approximately $267 million, consisting of $245 million funded with available cash at the time of the acquisition, $19 million related to the fair value of a previously-held cost method investment and $3 million related to the fair value of stock options assumed. The acquisition furthers the Company's strategy to expand into higher value data storage platforms and systems that address the growth in storage requirements in cloud data centers.
The Company identified and recorded the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their estimated fair values at the date of acquisition, and allocated the remaining value of $215 million to goodwill. The values assigned to the acquired assets and liabilities were finalized prior to March 9, 2016, which was the final date of the 12-month measurement period following the date of the acquisition. The individual tangible and intangible assets acquired as well as the liabilities assumed in the acquisition were immaterial to the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements.
The final purchase price allocation for Amplidata was as follows (in millions):
 March 9,
2015
Tangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed$(24)
Intangible assets76
Goodwill215
     Total$267
The final purchase price allocation reflects adjustments since the date of acquisition that consist of an increase of $42 million to goodwill which primarily related to an adjustment to the value of deferred taxes acquired, an adjustment to the value of intangible assets acquired and an adjustment for the fair value of stock options assumed in the acquisition of Amplidata.
The $215 million of goodwill recognized is primarily attributable to the benefits the Company expects to derive from an ability to create hard disk drive storage solutions leveraging the core software acquired and is not expected to be deductible for tax purposes. The impact to revenue and net income attributable to Amplidata was immaterial to the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016.
12. Employee Termination, Asset Impairment and Other Charges
The Company periodically incurs charges to realign its operations with anticipated market demand. In the three months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recognized $28 million of expenses related to this realignment, which consisted of $20 million in employee termination benefits and $8 million in contract termination and other costs. In the nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recognized $111 million of expenses related to this realignment, which consisted of $76 million in employee termination benefits, $8 million of asset impairments and $27 million of contract termination and other costs.
Restructuring Plan (the “Restructuring Plan”)
The Company has also initiated a set of actions relating to the Restructuring Plan associated with the integration of substantial portions of its HGST and WD subsidiaries. The Restructuring Plan consists of asset and footprint reduction, product roadmap consolidation and organization rationalization.

The Company expects the Restructuring Plan to be substantially completed by the endTable of calendar year 2017 and it is expected to result in total pre-tax charges of approximately $400 million. These charges are expected to consist of approximately $185 million in employee termination benefits, $125 million in asset charges and $90 million in other related costs. Approximately $275 million of these charges are expected to be cash expenditures. In the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recorded $64 million of expenses related to employee termination benefits as part of the Restructuring Plan.Contents
All of the components of the Restructuring Plan are not finalized and actual costs, cash expenditures and timing may vary from the Company’s estimates due to changes in the scope or assumptions underlying the Restructuring Plan.WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
Closure of Foreign Manufacturing FacilityNOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
In January 2016, the Company announced it would be closing its head component front end wafer manufacturing facility in Odawara, Japan, in order to reduce manufacturing costs. In the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recognized $48 million of expenses related to the closure of the facility, which consisted of approximately $24 million in land impairment charges, $23 million in employee termination benefits and $1 million in contract termination and other costs. In addition, in the nine months ended April 1, 2016, the Company recognized $55 million of accelerated depreciation charges on assets held at the Odawara facility, of which $40 million was recognized in cost of revenue and $15 million was recognized in research and development within the condensed consolidated statements of income. The Company expects to record approximately $100 million in remaining charges during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.(Unaudited)
The total employee termination, asset impairment and other charges line item within the Company's condensed consolidated statements of income includes all of the activities described above and consisted of the following (in millions):
 Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
Employee termination benefits$107
 $17
 $163
 $60
Impairment of assets24
 2
 32
 21
Contract termination and other9
 (9) 28
 (9)
Total$140
 $10
 $223
 $72
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
For the three months ended January 1, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Net income$251
 $258
 $219
 $(477) $251
Other comprehensive income, before tax:         
Net unrealized gain on foreign exchange contracts38
 38
 29
 (67) 38
Net unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities(2) (3) (3) 6
 (2)
Total other comprehensive income, before tax36
 35
 26
 (61) 36
Income tax benefit related to items of other comprehensive income
 
 
 
 
Other comprehensive income, net of tax36
 35
 26
 (61) 36
Total comprehensive income$287
 $293
 $245
 $(538) $287
Impairment charges during the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 primarily consisted of land impairment related to the closure of the Company's Odawara facility. Impairment charges during the nine months ended April 3, 2015 primarily consisted of other long-lived assets and equipment impairment.
The following table provides those cash charges recorded as liabilities within the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets (in millions):
 July 3,
2015
 Accruals Payments April 1,
2016
Employee termination benefits$10
 $166
 $(64) $112
13. Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Recently Adopted
In November 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2015-17, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes” (“ASU 2015-17”), which requires that deferred tax liabilities and assets for each tax-paying jurisdiction within each tax-paying component to be classified as noncurrent in a classified statement of financial position. The Company early adopted ASU 2015-17 during the second quarter of fiscal 2016 on a prospective basis, which resulted in the reclassification of approximately $165 million of net deferred tax assets as of January 1, 2016 from current assets to noncurrent assets. Since the Company adopted this standard on a prospective basis, no adjustments were made to prior-period balance sheets.
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Comprehensive Income (Loss)
For the six months ended January 1, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Net income$534
 $548
 $562
 $(1,110) $534
Other comprehensive income, before tax:         
Net unrealized gain on foreign exchange contracts13
 13
 12
 (25) 13
Net unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities(1) (2) (2) 4
 (1)
Total other comprehensive income, before tax12
 11
 10
 (21) 12
Income tax benefit related to items of other comprehensive income
 
 
 
 
Other comprehensive income, net of tax12
 11
 10
 (21) 12
Total comprehensive income$546
 $559
 $572
 $(1,131) $546

Recently Issued

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, “CompensationTable of Contents
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTSStock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2016-09”). The new standard simplifies several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions and states that, among other things, all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies should be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement and an entity can make an entity-wide accounting policy election to either estimate the number of awards that are expected to vest or account for forfeitures when they occur. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within these periods, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2018. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-09 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.(Continued)
In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)” (“ASU 2016-02”). The new standard, among other things, requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for leases. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2020. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-02 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.(Unaudited)
In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, “Financial Instruments — Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities” (“ASU 2016-01”). The new standard requires equity investments (except those accounted for under the equity method of accounting or those that result in consolidation of the investee) to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income, simplifies the impairment assessment of equity investments without readily determinable fair values, eliminates the requirement to disclose the methods and significant assumptions used to estimate fair value, requires use of the exit price notion when measuring fair value, requires separate presentation in certain financial statements and requires an evaluation of the need for a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to available-for-sale securities. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-01 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-16, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments” (“ASU 2015-16”), which eliminates the requirement for an acquirer in a business combination to account for measurement-period adjustments retrospectively. Acquirers must recognize measurement-period adjustments during the period of resolution, including the effect on earnings of any amounts they would have recorded in previous periods if the accounting had been completed at the acquisition date. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Earlier adoption is permitted for any interim and annual financial statements that have not yet been issued. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2015-16 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-15, “Interest — Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Presentation and Subsequent Measurement of Debt Issuance Costs Associated with Line-of-Credit Arrangements — Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to Staff Announcement at June 18, 2015 EITF Meeting” (“ASU 2015-15”). The new standard states that SEC staff would not object to an entity deferring and presenting debt issuance costs as an asset and subsequently amortizing the deferred debt issuance costs ratably over the term of the line-of-credit arrangement, regardless of whether there are any outstanding borrowings on the line-of-credit arrangement. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2015-15 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-03, “Interest — Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs” (“ASU 2015-03”). The new standard requires debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The new standard is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2015, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2015-03 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In February 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-02, “Consolidation (Topic 810): Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis” (“ASU 2015-02”). The new standard eliminates the presumption that a general partner should consolidate a limited partnership, requires that a reporting entity determine whether it has a variable interest in the entity being evaluated for consolidation, eliminates the requirement to consolidate variable interest entities (“VIEs”) caused by certain fees paid to decision makers and eliminates the indefinite deferral of FASB Statement No. 167 included in ASU 2010-10. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2017. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2015-02 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASU 2014-09”), which amends the guidance in former Accounting Standards Codification Topic 605, “Revenue Recognition,” to provide a single, comprehensive revenue recognition model for all contracts with customers. The new standard requires an entity to recognize revenue in a manner that depicts the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in amounts that reflect the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The new standard also requires entities to enhance disclosures about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-14, which deferred the effective date of this ASU by one year. The new standard allows for either a full retrospective or a modified retrospective transition method and is effective for fiscal years and interim periods within those years beginning after December 15, 2017, which for the Company is the first quarter of fiscal 2019, and early adoption is permitted beginning after December 15, 2016. The Company has not yet selected a transition method and is currently evaluating the impact ASU 2014-09 will have on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
14. Subsequent Event
In connection with the Merger with SanDisk, the Company expects to enter into new debt facilities totaling approximately $18.1 billion, of which the Company has incurred aggregate borrowings of approximately $10.0 billion as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. In addition to the notes and new credit agreement described below, the Company expects to enter into an additional bridge facility in the amount of $3.0 billion on the closing date of the Merger.
Notes
On April 13, 2016, the Company completed an offering of its $1.875 billion aggregate principal amount of 7.375% senior secured notes due 2023 (the “Secured Notes”) and $3.35 billion aggregate principal amount of 10.500% senior unsecured notes due 2024 (the “Unsecured Notes” and, together with the Secured Notes, the “Notes”). The Notes were issued pursuant to indentures (the “Indentures”) among (i) the Company, (ii) HGST, Inc., WD Media, LLC, Western Digital (Fremont), LLC and Western Digital Technologies, Inc. (the “WD Guarantors”) and (iii) U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (and as collateral agent with respect to the Secured Notes). Immediately following the consummation of the Merger, SanDisk Technologies, Inc., which will be an indirect subsidiary of the Company (the “SD Guarantor”), and the other parties to the Indentures will enter into supplemental indentures and the SD Guarantor will become party to the Indentures and will agree to guarantee the Company’s obligations under the Notes. The Company is not required to make principal payments on the Notes prior to their respective maturity dates, except that the Company may be required to offer to purchase the Notes upon the occurrence of a change of control (as defined in the Indentures) or with the proceeds of certain non-ordinary course asset sales.
The Company has deposited the gross proceeds from the offering of each series of Notes into separate segregated escrow accounts. The release of the escrowed funds is subject to the conditions set forth in the escrow agreements. If the consummation of the Merger does not occur on or prior to January 21, 2017, the Company must redeem the Notes at a price equal to 100% of the initial issue price of the Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest.
Prior to the release of the Notes offering proceeds from escrow, each series of Notes and the related guarantees are secured by an exclusive first-priority lien on the funds held in the respective escrow account from the issuance of such series of Notes. Following the release of the Notes offering proceeds from escrow, the Secured Notes and related guarantees will be secured on an equal and ratable basis by liens on the same assets that secure indebtedness under the New Credit Agreement as described below and, as a result, will be effectively senior to the Unsecured Notes to the extent of the value of the assets that secure the Secured Notes and will be effectively pari passu with obligations under the New Credit Agreement and all other existing and future obligations of WDC and the WD Guarantors secured by first-priority liens on the assets securing the Secured Notes (subject to permitted liens and certain limitations).
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Cash Flows
For the six months ended December 30, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Cash flows from operating activities         
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities$(256) $211
 $1,443
 $102
 $1,500
Cash flows from investing activities         
Purchases of property, plant and equipment
 (136) (194) 
 (330)
Proceeds from the sale of equipment
 
 1
 
 1
Purchases of investments
 
 (239) 
 (239)
Proceeds from sale of investments
 
 55
 
 55
Proceeds from maturities of investments
 
 279
 
 279
Investments in Flash Ventures
 
 (20) 
 (20)
Notes receivable issuances to Flash Ventures
 
 (309) 
 (309)
Notes receivable proceeds from Flash Ventures
 
 259
 
 259
Strategic investments and other, net
 
 (12) 
 (12)
Intercompany loans to consolidated affiliates770
 40
 
 (810) 
Advances to consolidated affiliates293
 (285) 
 (8) 
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities1,063
 (381) (180) (818) (316)
Cash flows from financing activities         
Issuance of stock under employee stock plans90
 
 
 
 90
Taxes paid on vested stock awards under employee stock plans(40) 
 
 
 (40)
Excess tax benefits from employee stock plans56
 
 
 
 56
Proceeds from acquired call option
 
 61
 
 61
Dividends paid to shareholders(284) 
 
 
 (284)
Repayment of debt(4,767) (2,995) (492) 
 (8,254)
Proceeds from debt3,992
 
 
 
 3,992
Debt issuance costs(7) 
 
 
 (7)
Intercompany loan from parent
 (5,966) 5,156
 810
 
Change in investment in consolidated subsidiaries199
 8,808
 (8,913) (94) 
Net cash used in financing activities(761) (153) (4,188) 716
 (4,386)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash
 
 (9) 
 (9)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents46
 (323) (2,934) 
 (3,211)
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year
 1,206
 6,945
 
 8,151
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period$46
 $883
 $4,011
 $
 $4,940

New Credit Agreement

The Term Loan A Facility will close and the related proceeds will be received by the Company on the closing date of the Merger. The Revolving Credit Facility will be available starting on the closing date of the Merger. The Term Loan A Facility and the Revolving Credit Facility have terms of five years. The Term Loan B Facilities have terms of seven years. The obligations under the New Credit Agreement are guaranteed by the WD Guarantors. Immediately following the consummation of the Merger, the SD Guarantor will execute a guaranty supplement and will agree to guarantee the Company’s obligations under the New Credit Agreement. The term loans and the revolving credit loans may be prepaid in whole or in part at any time without premium or penalty, subject to certain conditions, except that the Term Loan B Facilities require the Company to pay a 1.00% prepayment fee if the loans thereunder are repaid in connection with certain “repricing” transactions on or before the one year anniversary of the effective date.WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
As of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the outstanding balances under the New Credit Agreement were $3.75 billion for the U.S. Term Loan B Facility and €885 million for the Euro Term Loan B Facility. Beginning in September 2016, the Company is required to make quarterly principal payments on the Term Loan B Facilities equal to 0.25% of the original principal amount thereof, with the remaining balance due in 2023.NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS — (Continued)
The Company has deposited the net proceeds of the borrowings under the Term Loan B Facilities into separate segregated escrow accounts. The release of the escrowed funds is subject to the conditions set forth in the escrow agreement for the Term Loan B Facilities. Prior to the release of the Term Loan B Facilities proceeds from escrow, the Administrative Agent will have a perfected first-priority lien on the funds held in the respective escrow accounts on behalf of the lenders under the Term Loan B Facilities. If the consummation of the Merger does not occur on or prior to January 21, 2017, the Company must prepay in full the amount of the Term Loan B Facilities funded into escrow, plus accrued and unpaid interest.(Unaudited)
At the closing of the Merger, (i) the net proceeds of the borrowings under the Term Loan B Facilities will be released from escrow and (ii) the Company will borrow the full amount of the term loans under the Term Loan A Facility and will have the ability to borrow under the Revolving Credit Facility.
Upon the release of the net proceeds of the borrowings under the Term Loan B Facilities from escrow, the obligations under the New Credit Agreement will be secured on a first-priority basis (subject to permitted liens) by a lien on substantially all the assets and properties of the Company and the WD Guarantors, including all of the capital stock held by such entities (subject to a 65% limitation on pledges of capital stock of foreign subsidiaries and domestic holding companies of foreign subsidiaries), subject to certain exceptions.
Upon the release of the net proceeds of the borrowings under the Term Loan B Facilities from escrow, the New Credit Agreement will require the Company to comply with a leverage ratio and an interest coverage ratio calculated on a consolidated basis for the Company and its subsidiaries. In addition, the New Credit Agreement contains customary covenants that will apply following the release of the net proceeds of the borrowings under the Term Loan B Facilities from escrow, including covenants that limit or restrict the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ ability to incur liens, incur indebtedness, make certain restricted payments, make acquisitions and investments, loans and guarantees, enter into transactions with affiliates, make certain modifications of organizational documents and certain debt agreements and merge or consolidate, and customary events of default.
Subject to certain exceptions and thresholds, following the release of the net proceeds of the borrowings under the Term Loan B Facilities from escrow, the Term Loan A Facility and the Term Loan B Facilities require mandatory prepayments in connection with (i) excess cash flow (with respect to the Term Loan B Facilities only), (ii) non-ordinary course asset sales and other dispositions and (iii) the issuance of certain debt obligations, among other things. In addition, if more than $100 million in aggregate principal amount of SanDisk’s convertible notes due 2017 and 2020 remains outstanding on the date that is 90 days after the closing date of the Merger, the New Credit Agreement requires the Company to make a mandatory prepayment of the term loans under the Term Loan B Facilities in an amount equal to the outstanding amount of such convertible notes.

Termination
Condensed Consolidating Statement of Cash Flows
For the six months ended January 1, 2016
          
 Parent Guarantor Subsidiaries Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries Eliminations Total
Company
 (in millions)
Cash flows from operating activities         
Net cash provided by operating activities$12
 $266
 $852
 $13
 $1,143
Cash flows from investing activities         
Purchases of property, plant and equipment
 (114) (186) 
 (300)
Purchases of investments
 
 (408) 
 (408)
Proceeds from sale of investments
 
 
 266
 266
Proceeds from maturities of investments
 
 266
 (266) 
Strategic investments and other, net
 
 (12) 
 (12)
Advances from (to) consolidated affiliates207
 (207) 
 
 
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities207
 (321) (340) 
 (454)
Cash flows from financing activities         
Issuance of stock under employee stock plans54
 
 
 
 54
Taxes paid on vested stock awards under employee stock plans(44) 
 
 
 (44)
Excess tax benefits from employee stock plans(6) 
 
 
 (6)
Repurchases of common stock(60) 
 
 
 (60)
Dividends paid to shareholders(231) 
 
 
 (231)
Repayment of debt
 (63) 
 
 (63)
Change in investment in consolidated subsidiaries68
 (52) (3) (13) 
Net cash used in financing activities(219) (115) (3) (13) (350)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
 (170) 509
 
 339
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year
 661
 4,363
 
 5,024
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period$
 $491
 $4,872
 $
 $5,363



On the closing date of the Merger, pursuant to the terms of the New Credit Agreement, Western Digital Technologies, Inc., Western Digital Ireland, Ltd. and Western Digital International Ltd. (collectively, the “Existing Borrowers”) will repay all outstanding loans, together with accrued interest, and will terminate all commitments under the credit agreement dated as of January 9, 2014, as amended, among the Company, the Existing Borrowers, the lenders party thereto and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent.
Item 2.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Item 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, and should be read in conjunction with the disclosures we make concerning risks and other factors that may affect our business and operating results. You should read this information in conjunction with the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and Part II, Item 7, contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 3, 2015.1, 2016.

Unless otherwise indicated, references herein to specific years and quarters are to our fiscal years and fiscal quarters. As used herein, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” and the “Company” refer to Western Digital Corporation and its subsidiaries.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Any statements that do not relate to historical or current facts or matters are forward-looking statements. You can identify some of the forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking words, such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “potential,” “plan,” “forecast,” and the like, or the use of future tense. Statements concerning current conditions may also be forward-looking if they imply a continuation of current conditions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning:
expectations concerning the planned merger (the “Merger”) with SanDisk Corporation (“SanDisk”);
expectations regarding the integration of our HGST and WD subsidiaries following the decision by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (“MOFCOM”) in October 2015;
expectations regarding the growth of digital data and demand for digital storage;
our plans to develop and invest in new products and expand into new storage markets and into emerging economic markets;
expectations regarding the personal computer (“PC”) market and the emergence of new storage markets for our products;
expectations regarding the amount and timing of charges and cash expenditures associated with our restructuring activities;
our quarterly cash dividend policy;
expectations regarding the outcome of legal proceedings in which we are involved;
expectations regarding the repatriation of funds from our foreign operations;
our beliefs regarding tax benefits and the timing of future payments, if any, relating to the unrecognized tax benefits, and the adequacy of our tax provisions;
our beliefs regarding the sufficiency of our available liquidity to meet our working capital, debt, dividend and capital expenditure needs; and
expectations regarding our debt financing plans.
Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review the disclosures we make concerning risks and other factors that may affect our business and operating results, including those made in Part I, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and any of those made in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to publish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Our Company

We are a leading developer, manufacturer and provider of data storage devices and solutions that enable consumers, businesses, governmentsaddress the evolving needs of the information technology (“IT”) industry and other organizations to create, manage, experiencethe infrastructure that enables the proliferation of data in virtually every industry. Our broad portfolio of offerings addresses three categories: Data Center Devices and preserve digital content. Our product portfolio includesSolutions (capacity and performance enterprise hard disk drives (“HDDs”HDD”), solid stateenterprise solid-state drives (“SSDs”SSD”), direct attached storage solutions, personal cloud network attached storagedata center software and system solutions); Client Devices (mobile, desktop, gaming and digital video hard drives, client SSDs, embedded products and wafers); and Client Solutions (removable products, hard drive content solutions and publicflash content solutions). We also generate license and private cloud data center storage solutions. HDDs areroyalty revenue related to our principal products and are today’s primary storage medium forintellectual property which is included in each of the vast majority of digital content, with the use of solid-state storage products growing rapidly. Our products are marketed under the HGST and WD brand names.three categories.

Our fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest to June 30 and typically consists of 52 weeks. Approximately every sixFiscal years we report a 53-week fiscal year to align our fiscal year with the foregoing policy. Our fiscal third quarters2017, which ends on June 30, 2017, and 2016, which ended AprilJuly 1, 2016, and April 3, 2015are both consisted of 13 weeks. The nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015 consisted of 39 and 40 weeks, respectively. Fiscal 2016 will be comprised of 52 weeks, and will end on July 1, 2016. Fiscal year 2015 was comprisedwith all quarters presented consisting of 53 weeks and ended on July 3, 2015.13 weeks.

Recent Developments
Restructuring Plan (the “Restructuring Plan”)
Debt Facilities

During the first half of 2017, we settled certain debt facilities and entered into new debt facilities at lower rates. The financing arrangement activities during the first half of 2017 were:

We paid in full, with accrued interest, our $3.0 billion short-term senior secured bridge credit agreement.

We settled our $3.750 billion U.S. Term Loan B tranche with a new issuance of a $3.0 billion six-year U.S. dollar-denominated term loan (“U.S. Term Loan B-1”) at an interest rate lower than our U.S. Term Loan B tranche. Proceeds from this new loan and a voluntary cash prepayment of $750 million were used to settle our U.S. Term Loan B tranche.

We settled our €885 million Euro Term Loan B tranche with a new issuance of a €885 million seven-year Euro-denominated term loan (“Euro Term Loan B-1”) at an interest rate lower than our Euro Term Loan B tranche.

We paid to the holders of our Convertible Notes (as defined below), for conversion and repurchase, $493 million of cash and 0.3 million shares of our common stock with an aggregate value of $16 million. In connectionconjunction with the regulatory approval process for the HGST acquisition, which closed on March 8, 2012,settlements, we agreed to certain conditions required by MOFCOM, including adopting measures to maintain HGST as an independent competitor until MOFCOM agreed otherwise. Accordingly, since March 2012, we have operated our global business through two independent subsidiaries — HGST and WD. In March 2014, we submitted an application to MOFCOM to lift the condition it imposed on us to operate these businesses separately. On October 19, 2015, MOFCOM issued a decision in response to our application that permits us to integrate our HGST and WD subsidiaries, except that we committed to maintain two sales teams that will separately offer products under the WD or HGST brands for two yearsreceived from the dateexercise of the decision.
We have initiated a setrelated call options, $61 million of actions relating to the Restructuring Plan associated with the integration of substantial portionscash and 0.1 million shares of our HGST and WD subsidiaries. The Restructuring Plan consistscommon stock which had an aggregate value of asset and footprint reduction, product roadmap consolidation and organization rationalization.$11 million.
We expect the Restructuring Plan to be substantially completed by the end of calendar year 2017 and it is expected to result in total pre-tax charges of approximately $400 million. These charges are expected to consist of approximately $185 million in employee termination benefits, $125 million in asset charges and $90 million in other related costs. Approximately $275 million of these charges are expected to be cash expenditures.
For furtheradditional information refer toregarding our debt facilities, see Part I, Item 1, Note 12 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Part II, Item 5, Other Information included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Planned SanDisk Merger
On October 21, 2015, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with SanDisk, a global leader in NAND flash storage solutions, pursuant to which a subsidiary of our company will merge with and into SanDisk, with SanDisk surviving and becoming our wholly-owned indirect subsidiary. The Merger is primarily intended to deepen our expertise in non-volatile memory and enable us to vertically integrate into NAND, securing long-term access to solid state technology at a lower cost.
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, we will pay $67.50 per share in cash and issue 0.2387 shares of our common stock per share of SanDisk’s common stock. The Merger will be financed by a mix of cash, new debt financing and issuance of our common stock.
Consummation of the Merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including without limitation: (i) the required approval by SanDisk shareholders and our shareholders, which was obtained on March 15, 2016; (ii) the expiration or early termination of the waiting period applicable to the consummation of the Merger under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, which expired on January 15, 2016, and the receipt of foreign regulatory approvals. In certain circumstances, a termination fee of up to $1.06 billion may be payable by us or a termination fee of up to $553.3 million may be payable by SanDisk, upon termination of the transaction as more fully described in the Merger Agreement.
New Debt Facilities
As further described below, in connection with the Merger with SanDisk, we expect to enter into new debt facilities totaling approximately $18.1 billion, of which we have incurred aggregate borrowings of approximately $10.0 billion as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. In addition to the notes and new credit agreement described below, we expect to enter into an additional bridge facility in the amount of $3.0 billion on the closing date of the Merger. The proceeds from the new debt facilities will be used to pay a portion of the purchase price of the Merger, refinance existing debt of both us and SanDisk and pay transaction related fees and expenses.

On April 13, 2016, we completed an offering of our $1.875 billion aggregate principal amount of 7.375% senior secured notes due 2023 and $3.35 billion aggregate principal amount of 10.500% senior unsecured notes due 2024.
On April 29, 2016, we entered into a new credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and collateral agent, and the lenders party thereto, which provides for secured loan facilities consisting of a $4.125 billion term loan facility, a $3.75 billion term loan facility, an €885 million term loan facility, and a $1.0 billion revolving credit facility.
For further information related to the debt entered into in connection with the Merger, refer to Part I, Item 1, Note 14 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included6, in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Closure

In January 2016, we announced we would be closing our head component front end wafer manufacturing facility in Odawara, Japan, in order to reduce manufacturing costs. In the three
Results of Operations

Second Quarter and nine months ended April 1, 2016, we recognized $48 million of expenses related to the closure of the facility, which consisted of approximately $24 million in land impairment charges, $23 million in employee termination benefits and $1 million in contract termination and other costs. In addition, in the nine months ended April 1, 2016, we recognized $55 million of accelerated depreciation charges on assets held at the Odawara facility, of which $40 million was recognized in cost of revenue and $15 million was recognized in research and development within the condensed consolidated statements of income. We expect to record approximately $100 million in remaining charges during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.
Termination of Investment by Unisplendour Corporation Limited (“Unis”)
On September 29, 2015, we entered into an agreement (the “Stock Purchase Agreement”) with Unis and Unis Union Information System Ltd., a subsidiary of Unis (the “Investor”), pursuant to which, subject to the conditions in the agreement, we agreed to issue and sell to the Investor 40,814,802 shares of our common stock (the “Shares”) for $92.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.775 billion (the “Transaction”).
The closing of the Transaction was subject to certain closing conditions, including clearance by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”).
On February 22, 2016, CFIUS informed us that it planned to undertake an investigation of the Transaction, triggering a 15-day period during which either we or the Investor could terminate the Stock Purchase Agreement. On February 23, 2016, the Investor terminated the Stock Purchase Agreement pursuant to its terms. We did not incur any early termination penalties in connection with the termination of the Stock Purchase Agreement. For more information, refer to Part I, Item 1, Note 9 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Joint Venture
In November 2015, we entered into an agreement to form a joint venture with Unis to market and sell our current data center storage systems in China and to develop data storage systems for the Chinese market in the future. The joint venture will be 51% owned by Unis and its subsidiary, Unissoft (Wuxi) Group Co. Ltd., and 49% by us. The termination of the investment by Unis described above is not expected to impact our agreement to form the joint venture, which is expected to become operational by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, pending regulatory approvals.
Third QuarterFirst Half Overview
For the quarter ended April 1, 2016, we believe that overall HDD industry shipments totaled approximately 100 million units, down 20% from the prior-year period and down 13% from the quarter ended January 1, 2016. These decreases are the result of a softer demand environment.
The following table sets forth, for the periods presented, selected summary information from our condensed consolidated statements of incomeoperations by dollars (in millions) and percentage of net revenue:
Three Months Ended Nine Months EndedThree Months Ended Six Months Ended
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 % Change December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 % Change
Net revenue$2,822

100.0%
$3,550

100.0%
$9,499

100.0%
$11,381

100.0%
(in millions, except percentages)
Revenue, net$4,888
 100.0% $3,317
 100.0% 47 % $9,602
 100.0 % $6,677
 100.0% 44 %
Gross profit753

26.7

1,032

29.1

2,614

27.5

3,291

28.9
1,533
 31.4
 906
 27.3
 69
 2,868
 29.9
 1,861
 27.9
 54
Total operating expenses665

23.6

611

17.2

1,953

20.6

1,935

17.0
988
 20.2
 655
 19.7
 51
 2,091
 21.8
 1,288
 19.3
 62
Operating income88

3.1

421

11.9

661

7.0

1,356

11.9
545
 11.1
 251
 7.6
 117
 777
 8.1
 573
 8.6
 36
Net income74

2.6

384

10.8

608

6.4

1,245

10.9
Net income (loss)235
 4.8
 251
 7.6
 (6) (131) (1.4) 534
 8.0
 (125)

The following is a summary of our financial performancetable sets forth, for the third quarterperiods presented, summary information regarding unit shipments, average selling prices (“ASPs”) and net revenues by geography and end market:
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
 (in millions, except exabytes, percentages and ASPs)
Revenue, net$4,888
 $3,317
 $9,602
 $6,677
HDD ASPs (per unit)$62
 $61
 $61
 $61
        
Revenues by Geography (%)       
Americas39% 31% 39% 31%
Europe, Middle East and Africa17
 23
 17
 22
Asia44
 46
 44
 47
        
Revenues by End Market (%)       
Client Devices49% 48% 50% 49%
Client Solutions22
 14
 21
 13
Data Center Devices & Solutions29
 38
 29
 38
        
HDD Unit Shipments44
 49
 92
 101
Exabytes Shipped78
 69
 158
 133


Consolidated net revenue totaled $2.8 billion.
Net Revenue

Net revenue derivedfor the three months ended December 30, 2016 increased $1.6 billion, or 47%, compared to the same period in 2016, which reflects an increase from enterprise SSDs was $200NAND-flash products from our acquisition of SanDisk, partially offset by lower HDD unit shipments. Total HDD shipments for the three months ended December 30, 2016 decreased to 44 million units, as compared to $224 million in the prior-year period.
HDD shipments decreased 21% from the prior-year period to 43.1 million units.
Gross margin decreased to 26.7% as compared to 29.1% in the prior-year period.
Operating income decreased to $88 million as compared to $421 million in the prior-year period.
We generated $485 million in cash flow from operations and ended the quarter with $5.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Results of Operations
Net Revenue
 Three Months Ended   Nine Months Ended  
(in millions, except percentages and
average selling price)
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 Percentage Change April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 Percentage Change
Net revenue$2,822

$3,550
 (21)% $9,499

$11,381
 (17)%
Average selling price (per unit)*$60
 $61
 (2)% $60
 $60
  %
Revenues by Geography (%)           
Americas30% 29%   30% 27%  
Europe, Middle East and Africa23
 21
   22
 22
  
Asia47
 50
   48
 51
  
Revenues by Channel (%)           
OEM66% 64%   66% 64%  
Distributors22
 23
   21
 23
  
Retailers12
 13
   13
 13
  
Unit Shipments*           
PC24.2
 32.3
   79.5
 108.6
  
Non-PC18.9
 22.2
   65.0
 71.7
  
            Total units shipped43.1
 54.5
 (21)% 144.5
 180.3
 (20)%
*Based on sales of HDD units only.
For the quarter ended April 1, 2016, net revenue was $2.8 billion, a decrease of 21% from the prior-year period. Total hard drive shipments decreased to 43.1 million units for the quarter ended April 1, 2016 as compared to 54.549 million units in the prior-year period. Forsame period in 2016, primarily due to lower HDD shipments for personal computer (“PC”) and performance enterprise. This was partially offset by an increase in HDD ASP per unit of $1 compared to the ninesame period in 2016, primarily due to a change in product mix.

Net revenue for the six months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 net revenue was $9.5increased $2.9 billion, a decreaseor 44%, compared to the same period in 2016, which reflects an increase from NAND-flash products from our acquisition of 17% fromSanDisk, partially offset by lower HDD unit shipments. Total HDD shipments for the prior-year period. Total hard drive shipmentssix months ended December 30, 2016 decreased to 144.592 million units, for the nine months ended April 1, 2016 as compared to 180.3101 million units in the prior-year period. These decreasessame period in revenue and shipments were2016, primarily the result of a softer demand environment. For the quarter ended April 1, 2016, the average selling prices (“ASP”) for HDDs decreaseddue to $60 compared to the prior-year period ASP for HDDs of $61. For the nine months ended April 1, 2016, the ASP for HDDs remained flat at $60 compared to the prior-year period ASP for HDDs.lower HDD shipments.
Changes in net revenue by geography and channel generally reflect normal fluctuations in market demand and competitive dynamics.
For the three and six months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company accounted for approximately 10% of our net revenue. For the nine months ended Apriland January 1, 2016, no one companycustomer accounted for 10% or more of our net revenue. For the three and ninesix months ended April 3, 2015, Hewlett-Packard CompanyDecember 30, 2016, our top 10 customers accounted for approximately 10%43% and 11%42%, respectively. For each of the three and six months ended January 1, 2016, our top 10 customers accounted for 44% of our net revenue, respectively.revenue.

Consistent with standard industry practice, we have sales incentive and marketing programs that provide customers with price protection and other incentives or reimbursements that are recorded as a reduction to gross revenue. Total sales incentiveFor each of the three and marketingsix months ended December 30, 2016, these programs have ranged from 7% to 14%represented 8% of gross revenues per quarter since the first quarter of fiscal 2014.revenues. For the three and ninesix months ended AprilJanuary 1, 2016, these programs represented 14%13% and 13%12% of gross revenues, respectively, as compared to 10% in both the respective prior-year periods.respectively. These amounts generally vary according to several factors including industry conditions, seasonal demand, competitor actions, channel mix and overall availability of product.products. Changes in future customer demand and market conditions may require us to adjust our incentive programs as a percentage of gross revenue.

Net Revenue by Geography

Changes in the mix of net revenue by geography for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016, compared to the same period in 2016, reflect the additional revenues from our acquisition of SanDisk which has comparatively higher revenue in the current range. AdjustmentsAmericas than our pre-acquisition business.

Net Revenue by End Market

Changes in the mix of net revenue by end market for the three and six months ended December 30, 2016, compared to the same period in 2016, also reflect the increase in revenues due to changesfrom our acquisition of SanDisk which has comparatively higher revenue in accruals for these programs related to revenues reported in prior periods have averaged 0.6% of quarterly gross revenue since the first quarter of fiscal 2014.Client Devices and Data Center Devices and Solutions than our pre-acquisition business.

Gross Profit and Gross Margin

 Three Months Ended
 
Nine Months Ended
 
(in millions, except percentages)April 1,
2016

April 3,
2015

Percentage Change
April 1,
2016

April 3,
2015

Percentage Change
Net revenue$2,822
 $3,550
 (21)%
$9,499

$11,381

(17)%
Gross profit753
 1,032
 (27)%
2,614

3,291

(21)%
Gross margin26.7% 29.1%  
27.5%
28.9%

ForGross profit for the three months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 was $1.5 billion, an increase of $627 million compared to the same period in 2016, driven by gross margin decreased to 26.7%,profit from NAND-flash products from our acquisition of SanDisk. Gross profit as a percentage of net revenue was 31.4% in the three months ended December 30, 2016, as compared to 29.1% for27.3% in the prior-year period. Forsame period in 2016. The increase in gross profit was due primarily to higher margins on NAND-flash memory products, increased HDD ASPs and cost improvements resulting from integration activities. Gross profit in the ninethree months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 gross margin decreased to 27.5%, as compared to 28.9% for the prior-year period. These decreases in gross margin were primarily the result of a change in product mix and the related absorption impact due to lower sales volume, as well aswas negatively impacted by amortization expense on acquired intangible assets, stock-based compensation, charges related to the accelerationimplementation of depreciationcost-saving initiatives and acquisition related charges, which aggregated $259 million, or 5.3% of revenue. Gross profit in the three months ended January 1, 2016 was negatively impacted by charges related to the implementation of cost-saving initiatives, amortization expense on acquired intangible assets held atand stock-based compensation, which aggregated $39 million, or 1.2% of revenue.



Gross profit for the Odawara, Japan facilitysix months ended December 30, 2016 was $2.9 billion, an increase of $1.0 billion compared to the same period in 2016, driven by the increased revenues from NAND-flash products from our acquisition of SanDisk. Gross profit as a resultpercentage of net revenue was 29.9% in the closuresix months ended December 30, 2016, as compared to 27.9% in the same period in 2016. The increase in gross profit was due primarily to higher margins on NAND-flash memory products and cost improvements resulting from integration activities. Gross profit in the six months ended December 30, 2016 was negatively impacted by amortization expense on acquired intangible assets, charges related to the implementation of cost-saving initiatives, stock-based compensation and acquisition related charges, which aggregated $523 million, or 5.4% of revenue. Gross profit in the facility.six months ended January 1, 2016 was negatively impacted by amortization expense on acquired intangible assets, charges related to the implementation of cost-saving initiatives and stock-based compensation, which aggregated was $61 million, or 0.9% of revenue.

Operating Expenses
 Three Months Ended   Nine Months Ended  
(in millions, except percentages)April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 Percentage Change April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
 Percentage Change
R&D expense$359

$402

(11)%
$1,133
 $1,265

(10)%
SG&A expense166

199

(17)%
565
 583

(3)%
Charges related to arbitration award



 %
32
 15

113 %
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges140

10

1,300 %
223
 72

210 %
Total operating expenses$665
 $611



$1,953
 $1,935


 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
   December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
  
 Amount % of Rev Amount % of Rev % Change Amount % of Rev Amount % of Rev % Change
 (in millions, except percentages)
Research and development$585
 12.0% $389
 11.7% 50% $1,224
 12.7% $774
 11.6% 58%
Selling, general and administrative358
 7.3
 239
 7.2
 50
 754
 7.9
 431
 6.5
 75
Employee termination, asset impairment and other charges45
 0.9
 27
 0.8
 67
 113
 1.2
 83
 1.2
 36
Total operating expenses$988
 20.2
 $655
 19.7
 51
 $2,091
 21.8
 $1,288
 19.3
 62
Research
The increase in research and development (“R&D”) expense was $359 million forin the three and six months ended April 1,December 30, 2016, a decreasecompared to the same period in 2016, was primarily related to our acquisition of $43 million from the prior-year period. R&D expense was $1.1 billion for the nineSanDisk and continued development of NAND technology to complement our existing product offerings. The three and six months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 a decreasealso included aggregate charges of $132$49 million from the prior-year period. These decreases were primarily the result of reductions in our R&D costs as a result of our business realignment initiatives, partially offset byand $102 million, respectively, related to share-based compensation expenses, charges related to the accelerationimplementation of depreciation on assets held at the Odawara, Japan facility. As a percentage of net revenue, R&D expense was 12.7%cost-saving initiatives and 11.9% in theacquisition-related charges. These costs were partially offset by cost savings from our integration activities. The three and ninesix months ended AprilJanuary 1, 2016 as comparedalso included aggregate charges of $20 million and $36 million, respectively, related to 11.3%share-based compensation expenses, charges related to the implementation of cost-saving initiatives and 11.1%other charges.

The increase in the respective prior-year periods.
Selling,selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expense was $166 million for the three months ended April 1, 2016, a decrease of $33 million from the prior-year period. SG&A expense was $565 million for the nine months ended April 1, 2016, a decrease of $18 million from the prior-year period. These decreases were primarily the result of reductions in our SG&A costs as a result of our business realignment initiatives, partially offset by acquisition expenses. SG&A expense as a percentage of net revenue was 5.9% in both the three and ninesix months ended AprilDecember 30, 2016, compared to the same period in 2016, was primarily related to our acquisition of SanDisk. The three and six months ended December 30, 2016 also included aggregate charges of $97 million and $216 million, respectively, related to share-based compensation expenses, amortization expense on acquired intangible assets, charges related to the implementation of cost-saving initiatives and acquisition-related charges. The three and six months ended January 1, 2016 as comparedalso included aggregate charges of $90 million and $120 million, respectively, related to 5.6% and 5.1% in the respective prior-year periods.
During the nine months ended April 1, 2016, we recorded $32 million of additional interestshare-based compensation expenses, acquisition-related charges, charges related to an arbitration award, for claims brought against usamortization expense on acquired intangible assets, charges related to the implementation of cost-saving initiatives and a now former employee of ours by Seagate Technology LLC, as compared to $15other charges.

Employee termination and other charges were $45 million and $113 million in the respective prior-year period. We paid the additional post-award interest to Seagate duringthree and six months ended December 30, 2016, respectively, an increase of $18 million and $30 million from the three and six months ended AprilJanuary 1, 2016, and no additional post-award interest amounts will be recorded on our consolidated financial statements or paid to Seagate.respectively. For additional information refer toregarding employee termination, asset impairment and other charges, see Part I, Item 1, Note 513 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
During the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016, we recorded employee termination, asset impairment and other charges


ur Restructuring Plan, as compared to $10 millionInterest and $72 million in the respective prior-year periods. For additional information, refer to Part I, Item 1, Note 12 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Other Income (Expense)
Other
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
   December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
  
 Amount % of Rev Amount % of Rev % Change Amount % of Rev Amount % of Rev % Change
 (in millions, except percentages)
Interest income$5
 0.1 % $5
 0.2 % 100% $10
 0.1 % $9
 0.1 % 11%
Interest expense(205) (4.2) (13) (0.4) ** (441) (4.6) (26) (0.4) **
Other income (expense), net(24) (0.5) 1
 
 ** (296) (3.1) 2
 
 **
Total interest and other expense, net$(224) (4.6) $(7) (0.2) ** $(727) (7.6) $(15) (0.2) **
**Amount not meaningful.

Interest expense netincreased for the three and ninesix months ended April 1,December 30, 2016, was $8 million and $23 million, respectively, as compared to $9 million and $26 million in the respective prior-year periods. Interest and other income for the three and nine months ended April 1, 2016 increased $3 million and $6 million, respectively, as compared to the prior-year periodssame period in 2016, primarily due to a higher average daily invested cash balance. Interest and other expensethe additional debt issued in connection with the acquisition of SanDisk.

Other income (expense), net for the three months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 increased $2 million as compared to the prior-year period due to higher interest rates. Interest and other expensewas primarily comprised of foreign exchange losses. Other income (expense), net for the ninesix months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 increased $3 million as compared towas primarily comprised of the prior-year period due to a higherwrite-off of debt balance.issuance costs on the settlement of the original U.S. Term Loan B and Euro Term Loan B, loss on the settlement of our convertible debt instruments, and foreign exchange losses.

Income Tax ProvisionExpense (Benefit)
We had
 Three Months Ended Six Months Ended
 December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
   December 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
  
 Amount % of Rev Amount % of Rev % Change Amount % of Rev Amount % of Rev % Change
 (in millions, except percentages)
Income tax expense (benefit)$86
 1.8% $(7) (0.2)% ** $181
 1.9% $24
 0.4% **
Effective tax rate27%   (3)%     362%   4%    
**Amount not meaningful.

Income tax expense of $181 million for the six months ended December 30, 2016 is attributable primarily to discrete effects consisting of income tax expense from the integration of $6SanDisk of $90 million and $30 million ina valuation allowance on acquired tax attributes of $109 million. Income tax expense related to the threeSanDisk integration is partially offset by income tax benefit from deductible debt issuance costs, debt discounts and nineprepayment fees from the debt refinancing of $96 million. These discrete items are the primary drivers of the effective tax rate for the six months ended April 1, 2016, respectively. Our incomeDecember 30, 2016.

The primary drivers for the difference between the effective tax expenserate for the three and ninesix months ended April 3, 2015 was $28 millionDecember 30, 2016 and $85 million, respectively. Ourthe U.S. Federal statutory rate of 35% are the current year generation of tax provisioncredits, tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand that expire at various dates from 2016 through 2029, for both periods, and the discrete items described above for the threesix months ended AprilDecember 30, 2016. For the three and six months ended January 1, 2016, reflects a tax benefit of $10 million for deductible acquisition expenses. Our tax provision for the nine months ended April 1, 2016 reflects a tax benefit of $34 million from restructuring activities and a tax benefit of $10 million for deductible acquisition expenses. The difference between the effective tax rate and the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 35% is primarily due to tax holidays in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand that expire at various dates from 2016 through 2025 and the current year generation of income tax credits. 2029.

For additional information refer toregarding income tax expense (benefit), see Part I, Item 1, Note 610 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.


Liquidity and Capital Resources
We ended the third quarter of fiscal 2016 with total cash and cash equivalents of $5.9 billion.
The following table summarizes our statements of cash flows (in millions):for the six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016:
Six Months Ended
Nine Months EndedDecember 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
(in millions)
Net cash flow provided by (used in):      
Operating activities$1,628
 $1,754
$1,500
 $1,143
Investing activities(11) (712)(316) (454)
Financing activities(754) (1,034)(4,386) (350)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents$863
 $8
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash(9) 
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents$(3,211) $339
Our investment policy is to manage our investment portfolio to preserve principal and liquidity while maximizing return through the full investment of available funds.
We believe our current cash, cash equivalents and cash generated from operations as well as our available credit facilities will be sufficient to meet our working capital, debt, dividend and capital expenditure needs for at least the next twelve months. Our ability to sustain our working capital position is subject to a number of risks that we discuss in Part II, Item 1A ofin this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
As discussed above under Recent Developments, in connection with the Merger, we expect to enter into new debt facilities totaling approximately $18.1 billion, of which we have incurred aggregate borrowings of approximately $10.0 billion as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The proceeds from the new debt facilities will be used to pay a portion of the merger consideration, refinance existing debt of both us and SanDisk and pay transaction-related fees and expenses. For more information on the debt entered into in connection with the Merger, refer to Part I, Item 1, Note 14 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
The cash on hand and indebtedness used to finance the Mergerour acquisition of SanDisk could cause us to place more reliance on cash generated from operations to pay principal and interest on our debt, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow for working capital, dividend and capital expenditure needs, dividends, or to pursue other potential strategic plans.

During 2017, we expect cash used for purchases of property, plant and equipment, and net activity in notes receivable and equity investments relating to our business ventures with Toshiba Corporation (“Flash Ventures”) to be approximately $0.7 billion to $1.1 billion of our cash. The total expected cash to be used could vary depending on the timing and completion of various capital projects and the availability, timing and terms of related financing.

A total of $5.5$3.9 billion and $4.3$6.9 billion of our cash and cash equivalents was held outside of the United StatesU.S. as of April 1,December 30, 2016 and July 3, 2015,1, 2016, respectively. Substantially all of the amounts held outside of the United States are intended to be indefinitely reinvested in foreign operations. Our current plans do not anticipate that we will need funds generated fromcan meet our U.S. cash needs while continuing to permanently reinvest the undistributed earnings of our foreign operations to fund our domestic operations or dividends to our shareholders pursuant to our quarterly cash dividend policy.subsidiaries. In the event funds fromthe reinvested earnings of our foreign operationssubsidiaries are needed indistributed to the United States, any repatriationU.S., such a distribution could result in the accrual and payment of additional U.S. income tax.taxes.

Operating Activities
Net cash provided by operating activities was $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion during the nine months ended April 1, 2016 and April 3, 2015, respectively.
Cash flow from operating activities consists of net income, adjusted for non-cash charges, plus or minus working capital changes. This represents our principal source of cash. Net cash provided by changes in working capital changes was $133$37 million for the ninesix months ended April 1,December 30, 2016, as compared to $470$1 million used for working capital changes in the prior-year period. The increase in net cash provided by working capital changes compared to the prior-year period was primarily attributable to the payment of the Seagate arbitration award in the ninesix months ended April 3, 2015.January 1, 2016.

Our working capital requirements primarily depend on the effective management of our cash conversion cycle, which measures how quickly we can convert our products into cash through sales. The cash conversion cycles for the six months ended December 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016 were as follows:
Six Months Ended
Nine Months EndedDecember 30,
2016
 January 1,
2016
April 1,
2016
 April 3,
2015
(in days)
Days sales outstanding36
 42
38
 47
Days in inventory49
 46
56
 48
Days payables outstanding(63) (70)(59) (71)
Cash conversion cycle22
 18
35
 24


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For the ninesix months ended April 1,December 30, 2016, our days sales outstanding (“DSOs”) decreased by 69 days, days in inventory (“DIOs”) increased by 38 days and days payablepayables outstanding (“DPOs”) decreased by 712 days, as compared to the prior year period.year. Changes in DSOs are generally due to the linearity of shipments. Changes in DIOs are generally related to the timing of inventory builds. Changes in DPOs are generally related to production volume and the timing of purchases during the period. From time to time, we modify the timing of payments to our vendors. We make modifications primarily to manage our vendor relationships and to manage our cash flows, including our cash balances. Generally, we make the payment term modifications through negotiations with our vendors or by granting to, or receiving from, our vendors’ payment term accommodations.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities forin the ninesix months ended April 1,December 30, 2016 was $11$316 million, as compared to $712$454 million net cash used in investing activities in the prior-year period. Netsix months ended January 1, 2016. During the six months ended December 30, 2016, net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended April 1, 2016primarily consisted of $462 million related to the purchase of investments, $433$330 million of capital expenditures and a net $23$70 million of other investing activities, mostlyincrease in notes receivable to and investments in Flash Ventures, partially offset by $907a net $95 million of proceeds from sales and maturities of investments. Netdecrease in our investments in marketable securities. During the six months ended January 1, 2016, net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended April 3, 2015 primarily consisted of $687 million related to the purchase of investments, $456$300 million of capital expenditures and $247a net $142 million related to acquisitions, partially offset by $665 millionincrease in investments in marketable securities.

Our cash equivalents are primarily invested in highly liquid money market funds that are invested in U.S. Treasury securities and U.S. Government Agency securities. In addition, we invest directly in U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. and International Government Agency securities, certificates of proceeds from salesdeposit, asset-backed securities, and maturities of investments.corporate and municipal notes and bonds.

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities forwas $4.4 billion in the ninesix months ended April 1,December 30, 2016, was $754 million as compared to $1.0 billion used in financing activities in the prior-year period. Netnet cash used in financing activities forof $350 million in the ninesix months ended AprilJanuary 1, 2016. During the six months ended December 30, 2016, net cash used in financing activities consisted of $8.3 billion to repay debt and $284 million to pay dividends on our common stock, partially offset by $4.0 billion of proceeds from debt, net of issuance costs, $61 million of proceeds from call options and a net $106 million provided by employee stock plans. During the six months ended January 1, 2016, net cash used in financing activities primarily consisted of $255$231 million used to repay the revolving credit facility, $109 million used to make principal payments on the term loan facility, $347 million used to pay dividends on our common stock, $60 million used to repurchase shares of our common stock partially offset by a net $17and $63 million provided by the issuance of stock under employee stock plans. Net cash used in financing activities for the nine months ended April 3, 2015 consisted of $772 million used to repurchase shares of our common stock, $280 million used to pay dividends on our common stock and $94 million used to make principal payments on the term loan facility, partially offset by a net $112 million provided by the issuance of stock under employee stock plans.repay debt.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

Other than the commitments related to Flash Ventures, facility lease commitments incurred in the normal course of business and certain indemnification provisions (see “Contractual Obligations and Commitments” below), we do not have any other material off-balance sheet financing arrangements or liabilities, guarantee contracts, retained or contingent interests in transferred assets, or any other obligation arising out of a material variable interest in an unconsolidated entity. We do not have any majority-owned subsidiaries that are not included in ourthe condensed consolidated financial statements. Additionally, we do not have an interest in, or relationships with, any special-purpose entities.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Debt — In January 2016, we repaid the outstanding balance of $255 million under the revolving credit facility. As of April 1, 2016, we had $2.2 billion outstanding on our term loan facility. We are required to make quarterly principal payments on the term loan facility totaling $47 million for the remainder of fiscal 2016, $219 million in fiscal 2017, $250 million in fiscal 2018 and the remaining balance of $1.7 billion in fiscal 2019. As of April 1, 2016, under our credit agreement, we were in compliance with all covenants. In connection with the Merger, we expect to enter into new debt facilities totaling approximately $18.1 billion, of which we have incurred aggregate borrowings of approximately $10.0 billion as of the date of this Quarter Report on Form 10-Q. For additional information onregarding our outstanding debt, refer tooff-balance sheet arrangements, see Part I, Item 1, Notes 4 and 14Note 8 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.



Short and Long-term Liquidity

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

The following is a summary of our known contractual cash obligations and commercial commitments as of December 30, 2016:
 Total 1 Year (Remaining 6 months of 2017) 2-3 Years (2018-2019) 4-5 Years (2020-2021) More than 5 Years (Beyond 2021)
 (in millions)
Long-term debt, including current portion$13,299
 $20
 $595
 $3,724
 $8,960
Interest on debt5,288
 393
 1,646
 1,646
 1,603
Flash Ventures and other related commitments(1)
6,336
 769
 3,412
 1,479
 676
Operating leases181
 33
 78
 47
 23
Purchase obligations700
 693
 7
 
 
Total$25,804
 $1,908
 $5,738
 $6,896
 $11,262
(1)
Includes reimbursement for depreciation and lease payments on owned and committed equipment, funding commitments for loans and equity investments and reimbursement for other committed expenses, including R&D. Funding commitments assume no additional operating lease guarantees. Additional operating lease guarantees can reduce funding commitments.

Debt

The Credit Agreement (as defined in Part I, Item 1, Note 6 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q) requires us to comply with certain financial covenants, such as a leverage ratio and an interest coverage ratio. In addition, the documents governing substantially all of our outstanding debt, including the Credit Agreement, require us to comply with customary covenants that limit or restrict us and our subsidiaries’ ability to incur liens and indebtedness; make certain restricted payments, acquisitions, investments, loans and guarantees; and enter into certain transactions with affiliates, mergers and consolidations. As of December 30, 2016, we were in compliance with these covenants.

See also Part II,I, Item 1A1, Note 6 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for information regarding our indebtedness.

Flash Ventures

Flash Ventures sells and leases back from a discussionconsortium of financial institutions a portion of its tools and has entered into equipment lease agreements of which we guarantee half of the risks associatedtotal outstanding obligations. The lease agreements contain customary covenants for Japanese lease facilities. In addition to containing customary events of default related to Flash Ventures that could result in an acceleration of Flash Ventures’ obligations, the lease agreements contain acceleration clauses for certain events of default related to the guarantors, including us. As of December 30, 2016, we were in compliance with our indebtedness.all covenants under these Japanese lease facilities.
Purchase Orders — In the normal course of business, we enter into purchase orders with suppliers for the purchase of components used to manufacture our products. These purchase orders generally cover forecasted component supplies needed for production during the next quarter, are recorded as a liability upon receipt
See Part I, Item 1, Note 8 of the components, and generally may be changed or canceled at any time priorNotes to shipment of the components. We also enter into purchase orders with suppliers for capital equipment that are recorded as a liability upon receipt of the equipment. Our ability to change or cancel a capital equipment purchase order without penalty depends on the nature of the equipment being ordered. In some cases, we may be obligated to pay for certain costs related to changes to, or cancellation of, a purchase order, such as costs incurred for raw materials or workCondensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in process of components or capital equipment.
We have entered into long-term purchase agreements with various component suppliers, containing minimum quantity requirements. However, the dollar amount of the purchases may depend on the specific products ordered, achievement of pre-defined quantity or quality specifications or future price negotiations. We have also entered into long-term purchase agreements with various component suppliers that carry fixed volumes and pricing which obligate us to make certain future purchases, contingent on certain conditions of performance, quality and technology of the vendor’s components.
We enter into, from time to time, other long-term purchase agreements for components with certain vendors. Generally, future purchases under these agreements are not fixed and determinable as they depend on our overall unit volume requirements and are contingent upon the prices, technology and quality of the supplier’s products remaining competitive.
Refer to Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended July 3, 2015, for further discussion of our purchase orders and purchase agreements and the associated dollar amounts. See Part II, Item 1A of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for a discussioninformation regarding Flash Ventures.


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Foreign Exchange Contracts

We purchase short-term, foreign exchange contracts to hedge the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on certain underlying assets, liabilities and commitments for operating expenses and product costs denominated in foreign currencies. See Part I, Item 3, of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q under the heading “Disclosure About Foreign Currency Risk,” forFor a description of our current foreign exchange contract commitments, see Part I, Item 3, under the heading “Disclosure About Foreign Currency Risk,” and Part I, Item 1, Note 85 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Indemnifications

In the ordinary course of business, we may provide indemnifications of varying scope and terms to customers, vendors, lessors, business partners and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses arising out of our breach of agreements, products or services to be provided by us, environmental compliance or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and certain of our officers that will require us, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. We maintain director and officer insurance, which may cover certain liabilities arising from our obligation to indemnify our directors and officers in certain circumstances.

It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Such indemnification agreements may not be subject to maximum loss clauses. Historically, we have not incurred material costs as a result of obligations under these agreements.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits

As of April 1,December 30, 2016, the amount of unrecognized tax benefits, including related accrued interest and penalties, was $359$561 million, of which $251$445 million could result in potential cash payments. We are not able to provide a reasonable estimate of the timing of future tax payments related to these obligations. SeeFor additional information regarding our total tax liability for unrecognized tax benefits, see Part I, Item 1, Note 610 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for information regarding our total tax liability for unrecognized tax benefits.
Stock Repurchase Program — Our Board of Directors previously authorized a stock repurchase program. Effective October 21, 2015, in connection with the SanDisk Merger, we suspended this stock repurchase program. For additional information, refer to Part II, Item 2, Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Cash Dividend Policy

Since the first quarter of fiscal 2014, we have issued a quarterly cash dividend. On MayNovember 3, 2016, we declared a cash dividend of $0.50 per share of our common stock to our shareholders of record as of JulyDecember 30, 2016. The cash dividend of $144 million was paid on January 17, 2017. On February 1, 2016, which2017, we declared a cash dividend of $0.50 per share of our common stock to our shareholders of record as of March 31, 2017. The cash dividend will be paid on July 15, 2016.April 17, 2017. We may modify, suspend, or cancel our cash dividend policy in any manner and at any time. For additional information, refer to Part I, Item 1, Note 9 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We have prepared the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of the financial statements requires the use of judgments and estimates that affect the reported amounts of revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity. We have adopted accounting policies and practices that are generally accepted in the industry in which we operate. If these estimates differ significantly from actual results, the impact to the condensed consolidated financial statements may be material. For example, we test goodwill for impairment annually as of the first day of our fourth fiscal quarter and at other times if events have occurred or circumstances exist that indicate the carrying value of goodwill may no longer be recoverable. Subsequent to April 1, 2016, the recent volatility in our stock price has caused our market capitalization to be below our shareholders’ equity, and it is possible that our goodwill could become impaired in the near term which could result in a material charge and adversely affect our results of operations.

There have been no material changes in our critical accounting policies and estimates sincefrom those disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended July 3, 2015.1, 2016. Please refer to Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 3, 20151, 2016 for a discussion of our critical accounting policies and estimates.


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Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In October 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-16, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory” (“ASU 2016-16”). The new standard removes the prohibition in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 740 against the immediate recognition of the current and deferred income tax effects of intra-entity transfers of assets other than inventory. The ASU is intended to reduce the complexity of U.S. GAAP and diversity in practice related to the tax consequences of certain types of intra-entity asset transfers, particularly those involving intellectual property. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, which for us is the first quarter of 2019. Early adoption is permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-16 will have on our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments” (“ASU 2016-15”). The new standard addresses certain cash flows issues regarding the classification of certain cash receipts and cash payments, which, among others, includes our disclosure requirement related to debt prepayment or extinguishment costs and distributions received from equity method investees. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, which for us is the first quarter of 2019. Early adoption is permitted. We expect to adopt this standard in the first quarter of 2018. The adoption of this standard is not expected to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, “Compensation — Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2016-09”). The new standard simplifies several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions and states that, among other things, all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies should be recognized as income tax expense or benefit in the income statement and an entity can make an entity-wide accounting policy election to either estimate the number of awards that are expected to vest or account for forfeitures when they occur. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those years, which for us is the first quarter of 2018. Early adoption is permitted. We expect to adopt this standard in the first quarter of 2018. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-09 will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)” (“ASU 2016-02”). The new standard, among other things, requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for leases. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, which for us is the first quarter of 2020. Early adoption is permitted. We expect to adopt this standard in the first quarter of 2020. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-02 will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, “Financial Instruments — Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities” (“ASU 2016-01”), which provides guidance related to accounting for equity investments, financial liabilities under the fair value option, and the presentation and disclosure requirements for financial instruments. In addition, the FASB clarified guidance related to the valuation allowance assessment when recognizing deferred tax assets resulting from unrealized losses on available-for-sale debt securities. ASU 2016-01 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, which for us is the first quarter of 2019. Early adoption is not permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact ASU 2016-01 will have on our consolidated financial statements.


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In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)”, which amends the guidance in former ASC Topic 605, “Revenue Recognition”, to provide a single, comprehensive revenue recognition model for all contracts with customers. ASC Topic 606 requires an entity to recognize revenue in a manner that depicts the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in amounts that reflect the consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The new standard also requires entities to enhance disclosures about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. As currently issued and amended, the standard is effective for public business entities applying U.S. GAAP, for annual periods commencing or after December 16, 2017 (with early adoption permitted for annual periods beginning on or after December 16, 2016). We intend to apply the new standard starting from the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The standard may be applied retrospectively to all prior periods presented (“full retrospective method”), or retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying the guidance recognized at the date of initial application (“modified retrospective method”). Based on our preliminary plan, we intend to adopt the new standard using the modified retrospective method. However, we continue to assess this in connection with our entire project plan.

We expect the implementation of the new standard to impact the recognition of our revenue as follows:

Substantially all of our current revenue is from the sale of hardware products. We do not expect any material changes to the timing or amount of revenue for these types of sales under the new standard.

For sales-based royalties, we will need to estimate and recognize revenue in the period the royalty-bearing sales occur as opposed to the existing treatment of recognizing revenue in the period the royalty report is received. This change will result in the acceleration of revenue recognition by one fiscal quarter as well as fluctuations between the estimated and actual reported sales-based royalties.

For software and intellectual property licenses, we are still assessing the impact and timing to revenue from the implementation of the new standard. However, we do not currently expect the new standard to have a material impact on our revenue for these types of arrangements.

Our revenue disclosures are expected to expand.

We are still assessing the impact to our processes and systems configuration from the implementation of the new revenue standard and do not currently expect any significant changes to our other accounting policies from the adoption of the new revenue standard. Our implementation efforts are progressing as planned.

For a description of recently issued and adopted accounting pronouncements, including the respective dates of adoption and expected effects on our results of operations and financial condition, refer tosee Part I, Item 1, Note 132 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.10-Q, which is incorporated by reference in response to this item.


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Item 3.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 3.QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Disclosure About Foreign Currency Risk

Although the majority of our transactions are in U.S. dollars, some transactions are based in various foreign currencies. We purchase short-term, foreign exchange contracts to hedge the impact of foreign currency exchange fluctuations on certain underlying assets, liabilities and commitments for operating expenses and product costs denominated in foreign currencies. The purpose of entering into these hedge transactions is to minimize the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on our results of operations. The contract maturity dates do not exceed 12 months. We do not purchase foreign exchange contracts for speculative or trading purposes. For additional information, refer tosee Part I, Item 1, Note 8Notes 4 and 5 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

As of April 1,December 30, 2016, we had outstanding the following purchased foreign exchange contracts (in millions, except weighted average contract rate):presented in the following table. The changes in fair values of these foreign exchange contracts would be largely offset in other income (expense) by corresponding changes in the fair values of the foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities.
 
Contract
Amount
 
Weighted Average
Contract Rate*
 
Unrealized
Gains (Losses)
Foreign exchange contracts:     
Cash flow hedges:     
Japanese Yen$121
 119.35 $7
Malaysian Ringgit$115
 4.21 $9
Philippine Peso$44
 47.26 $1
Singapore Dollar$34
 1.42 $1
Thai Baht$485
 35.90 $9
Fair value hedges:     
British Pound Sterling$(6) 0.69 $
Euro$(20) 0.88 $
Japanese Yen$171
 112.45 $
Philippine Peso$32
 45.96 $
Singapore Dollar$10
 1.40 $
Thai Baht$84
 35.25 $
 Contract Amount 
Weighted
Average Contract Rate(1)
 Unrealized Gain (Loss)
 (in millions, except weighted average contract rate)
Foreign exchange contracts:     
Cash flow hedges:     
Japanese yen$919
 108.59
 $(58)
Malaysian ringgit128
 4.24
 (6)
Philippine peso43
 48.61
 (1)
Singapore dollar36
 1.40
 (1)
Thailand baht370
 35.11
 (7)
Fair value hedges:     
British pound sterling$15
 0.81
 $
Euro38
 0.94
 
Japanese yen208
 102.30
 
Malaysian ringgit14
 4.49
 
Philippine peso22
 50.28
 
Singapore dollar11
 1.43
 
Thailand baht143
 35.60
 
*
(1)
Expressed in units of foreign currency per U.S. dollar.

During the three and ninesix months ended AprilDecember 30, 2016 and January 1, 2016, total net realized transaction and foreign exchange contract currency gains and losses were not material to theour condensed consolidated financial statements.

Notwithstanding our efforts to mitigate some foreign exchange risks, we do not hedge all of our foreign currency exposures, and there can be no assurance that our mitigating activities related to the exposures that we hedge will adequately protect us against risks associated with foreign currency fluctuations.


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Disclosure About Other Market Risks

Variable Interest Rate Risk

Borrowings under our Term Loan A and our revolving credit agreementfacility bear interest at a rate equal to,per annum, at our option, of either (a)an adjusted LIBOR rate (subject to a customary London interbank offered rate (a “Eurodollar Rate”) or (b) a customary base rate (a “Base Rate”), in each case0.0% floor) plus an applicable margin.margin of 2.0% or at a base rate plus an applicable margin of 1.0%. The applicable margins range from 1.25% to 2.00% with respect to Eurodollar Rate borrowings and 0.25% to 1.00% with respect to Base Rate borrowings. We are also required to pay a commitment feemargin for the unused portion of theborrowings under our Term Loan A and our revolving credit facility which rangeswill range, depending on our leverage, from 0.175%1.50% to 0.300%2.25% for LIBOR loans and from 0.50% to 1.25% for base rate loans.

Borrowings under the U.S. Term Loan B-1 tranche bear interest at a rate per annum. The applicable margins for borrowings andannum, at our option, of an adjusted LIBOR rate, subject to a 0.75% floor, plus 3.75% or a base rate plus 2.75% (4.52% as of December 30, 2016). Borrowings under the commitment fee ranges are determined based uponEuro Term Loan B-1 tranche bear interest at a leverage ratiorate per annum, at our option, equal to an adjusted EURIBOR rate, subject to a 0.75% floor, plus 3.25% (4.00% as of us and our subsidiaries calculated on a consolidated basis. December 30, 2016).

As of April 1,December 30, 2016, we had $8.0 billion of long-term variable rate debt outstanding, and a one percent increase in the variable rate of interest, on the termsubject to each loan facilityspecific floor, would increasehave increased annual interest expense by approximately $22 million annually. A portion of the new debt facilities entered into in connection with the Merger will pay interest at a floating rate. As a result, our exposure to the risk of interest rate fluctuations has increased since April 1, 2016. $71 million.

For additional information refer toregarding our term loans, see Part I, Item 1, Notes 4 and 14Note 6 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.10-Q and Part II, Item 8, Note 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 1, 2016.

Item 4.Controls and Procedures
Item 4.CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
As required by SEC Rule 13a-15(b) ofpromulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during the third fiscalsecond quarter ended April 1,December 30, 2016 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.


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PART II. OTHER INFORMATION

Item 1.Legal Proceedings
Item 1.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
For a description of our legal proceedings, refer tosee Part I, Item 1, Note 514 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which is incorporated by reference in response to this item.

Item 1A.Risk Factors
Item 1A.RISK FACTORS
OurThe business, financial condition and operating results of the Company can be affected by a number of risks and uncertainties, whether currently known or unknown, any one or more of which could, directly or indirectly, cause our company’sthe Company’s actual results of operations and financial condition to vary materially from past, or from anticipated future, results of operations and financial condition. The risks and uncertainties discussed below are not the only ones facing our business, but do represent those risks and uncertainties that we believe are material to us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or the market price of our common stock.
The risks
Adverse global economic conditions and uncertainties discussed below updatecredit market uncertainty could harm our business, results of operations and supersedefinancial condition.

Adverse global economic conditions and uncertain conditions in the credit market have had, and in the future could have, a significant adverse effect on our company and on the storage industry as a whole. Several factors contribute to these conditions and this uncertainty, including, but not limited to, volatility in the equity, credit and other financial markets and real estate markets, slower growth in certain geographic regions, lower levels of consumer liquidity, risk of default on sovereign debt, higher interest rates, materials and component cost increases, political uncertainty and other macroeconomic factors, such as the June 2016 referendum by British voters to exit the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” and changes to policies, rules and regulations which may be proposed or implemented by the new U.S. President and his administration. Some of the risks and uncertainties previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1Awe face as a result of these conditions include the following:

Volatile Demand and Supplier Risk. Our direct and indirect customers may delay or reduce their purchases of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 3, 2015products and Part II, Item 1Asystems containing our products. In addition, many of our subsequent Quarterly Reportscustomers rely on Form 10-Q. Other thancredit financing to purchase our products. If negative conditions in the changesglobal credit markets prevent our customers’ access to credit, product orders may decrease, which could result in lower revenue. Likewise, if our suppliers, sub-suppliers and sub-contractors (collectively referred to as “suppliers”), or partners face challenges in obtaining credit, in selling their products or otherwise in operating their businesses, they may be unable to offer the materials we use to manufacture our products. These actions could result in reductions in our revenue and increased operating costs, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Restructuring Activities. If demand for our products slows as a result of a deterioration in economic conditions, we may undertake restructuring activities to realign our cost structure with softening demand. The occurrence of restructuring activities could result in impairment charges and other expenses, which could adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Credit Volatility and Loss of Receivables. We extend credit and payment terms to some of our customers. In addition to ongoing credit evaluations of our customers’ financial condition, we traditionally seek to mitigate our credit risk by purchasing credit insurance on certain of our accounts receivable balances. As a result of the continued uncertainty and volatility in global economic conditions; however, we may find it increasingly difficult to be able to insure these accounts receivable. We could suffer significant losses if a customer whose accounts receivable we have not insured, or have underinsured, fails to pay us on their accounts receivable balances. Additionally, negative or uncertain global economic conditions increase the risk factors below underthat if a customer we have insured fails to pay us on their accounts receivable, the section titled “Risks Related to the Planned SanDisk Merger and Integration of Our HGST Acquisition” and the risk factors related to our indebtedness, we do not believe anyfinancial condition of the changes constitute material changes to the risk factors previously disclosed ininsurance carrier for such prior Annual Reportcustomer account may have also deteriorated such that it cannot cover our loss. A significant loss of accounts receivable that we cannot recover through credit insurance would have a negative impact on Form 10-K,our financial condition.


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Impairment Charges. We test goodwill for impairment annually as updated by the risk factors previously disclosed in such prior Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Risks Related to the Planned SanDisk Merger and Integration of Our HGST Acquisition
The SanDisk Merger is subject to a number of conditions, some of which are outside of the parties’ control, and if these conditions are not satisfied or waived, the Merger will not be completed.
The Merger Agreement contains a number of conditions that must be fulfilled to complete the Merger. Those conditions include, among other customary conditions, approval by SanDisk shareholders of the Merger and by our shareholders of the issuance of sharesfirst day of our commonfourth quarter and at other times if events have occurred or circumstances exist that indicate the carrying value of goodwill may no longer be recoverable. Negative or uncertain global economic conditions could result in circumstances, such as a sustained decline in our stock price and market capitalization or a decrease in connection withour forecasted cash flows, indicating that the Merger, no material action being taken by any governmental entity enjoining or otherwise prohibiting consummation of the Merger, no law being enacted or promulgated by any governmental entity making the consummation of the Merger illegal, receipt of required regulatory approvals, accuracy of representations and warranties of the parties to the applicable standards provided by the Merger Agreement, no event occurring that had or would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on SanDisk or our company and compliance by the parties with their covenants in the Merger Agreement to the applicable standards provided by the Merger Agreement. To date, our registration statement on Form S-4 relating to the Merger became effective, the required approval by SanDisk shareholders and approval by our shareholders of the issuance of sharescarrying value of our common stocklong-lived assets or goodwill may be impaired. If we are required to record a significant charge to earnings in connection with the Merger were obtained, approval by NASDAQ for listingour consolidated financial statements because of the sharesan impairment of our common stock issued in connection with the Merger has been obtained, the waiting period applicable to the consummationlong-lived assets or goodwill, our results of the Merger under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (the “HSR Act”) has expired and we received regulatory clearance under the antitrust laws of the European Union, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey.
The required satisfaction of the remaining conditions could delay the completion of the Merger for a significant period of time or prevent it from occurring. Any delay in completing the Merger could cause the combined company not to realize some or all of the benefits that the parties expect the combined company to achieve. Further, there can be no assurance that the remaining conditions to the closing of the Mergeroperations will be satisfiedadversely affected.

Integrating SanDisk Corporation’s (“SanDisk”) operations with ours may be more difficult, costly or waived or that the Merger will be completed.
In addition, SanDisk or we may elect to terminate the Merger Agreement in certain circumstances. In the event of such termination, we could be required to pay a termination fee to SanDisk of approximately: (A) $1.06 billion if the acquisition is not consummated by October 21, 2016 or, if extended pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, January 21, 2017, or is enjoined or otherwise prohibited, in each case due to the failure to obtain certain required U.S. or foreign antitrust clearances;time consuming than expected and (B) $553.3 million if the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain other specified circumstances described in the Merger Agreement. Furthermore, the parties can mutually decide to terminate the Merger Agreement at any time prior to the closing, before or after shareholder approval, as applicable.
SanDisk and we must obtain required governmental and regulatory consents to complete the Merger, which, if delayed, not granted or granted with conditions, may jeopardize or delay the Merger, result in additional expenditures of money and resources and/or reduce the anticipated benefits, of the Merger.
The Merger is subject to customary closing conditions. These closing conditions include, among others, the expiration or termination of all waiting periods under applicable antitrust laws, including the applicable waiting periods under the HSR Act, which expired on January 15, 2016,synergies and foreign antitrust laws.
The governmental agencies from which the parties will seek these approvals have broad discretion in administering the governing regulations. As a condition to their approval of the Merger, agencies may impose requirements, limitations or costs or require divestitures or place restrictions on the conductcost savings of our business after consummationrecent acquisition of the Merger. TheseSanDisk (the “Merger”) may not be realized.

requirements, limitations, costs, divestitures or restrictionsThe success of our recent acquisition of SanDisk, including anticipated benefits, synergies and cost savings, will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine and integrate the businesses and culture of SanDisk into our company. It is possible that the integration process will take longer than anticipated. In addition, the integration process could jeopardize or delay the consummation of the Merger. However, in no event shall we be required to agree to the divestiture of any Assets (as definedresult in the Merger Agreement) otherloss of key employees, higher than Assetsexpected costs, ongoing diversion of SanDiskmanagement attention, the disruption of our ongoing businesses or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and its subsidiariespolicies that collectively generated revenues for the year ended December 29, 2013, not in excess of $250 million in the aggregate. Even if all required consents and approvals are obtained and the closing conditions are satisfied, no assurance can be given as to the terms, conditions and timing of the approvals. If we agree to any material requirements, limitations, costs, divestitures or restrictions in order to obtain any approvals required to consummate the Merger, these requirements, limitations, costs, divestitures or restrictions could adversely affect our ability to integrate our operationsmaintain relationships with SanDisk’s operations, reducecustomers, vendors, partners and employees. If we experience difficulties with the integration process, the anticipated benefits of the Merger and have a material adverse effect on the business and results of our operations after consummation of the Merger. These material requirements, limitations, costs, divestitures or restrictions imposed by governmental agencies could also result in a failure to consummate the Merger. We are obligated to pay certain transaction-related fees and expenses in connection with the Merger, whether ormay not the Merger is completed.
Furthermore, we must pay SanDisk a termination fee of approximately $1.06 billion in the event that either SanDisk or we terminate the Merger Agreement as a result of:
the Merger having not been consummated by October 21, 2016 (or January 21, 2017, if either SanDisk or we elect to extend this date pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement) or (ii) any governmental entity having issued an order, decree or ruling or having taken any other action in respect of any antitrust law that has the effect of enjoining or otherwise prohibiting consummation of the Merger substantially on the terms contemplated by the Merger Agreement, and such order, decree, ruling or other action has become final and non-appealable; and
at the time of such termination, all other conditions to closing have been satisfied other than (i) the condition requiring that there are no rulings or orders in respect of any antitrust law that have the effect of enjoining or prohibiting the consummation of the Merger or (ii) the condition relating to: (a) expiration or termination of the waiting period (and any extensions thereof) applicable to the consummation of the Merger under the HSR Act and (b) the receipt of all other required antitrust approvals.
Although the waiting period under the HSR Act has expired and clearance has been obtained in the European Union and certain other jurisdictions, we cannot provide assurance that other required antitrust approvals will be obtained or that other closing conditions will be satisfied in a timely mannerrealized fully or at all.
Any delay in completing the Mergerall, or may significantly reduce the benefits expectedtake longer to be obtained from the Merger.
realize than expected. In addition, to the required regulatory clearances and approvals, the Merger is subject to certain other conditions that are beyond our control and that may prevent, delay or otherwise materially adversely affect completion of the Merger. We cannot predict whether and when these other conditions will be satisfied. Further, the requirements for obtaining the required regulatory clearances and approvals could delay the completion of the Merger for a significant period of time or prevent it from occurring. Any delay in completing the Merger may significantly reduce the synergies projected to result from the Merger and other benefits that we expect to achieve if we and SanDisk successfully complete the Merger within the expected timeframe and integrate the respective businesses.
Uncertainty about the Merger may adversely affect our business and stock price, whether or not the Merger is completed.
We are subject to risks in connection with the announcement and pendency of the Merger, including legal proceedings against our company, our directors and others relating to the Merger and the risks from possibly foregoing opportunities we might otherwise pursue absent the Merger. Furthermore, uncertainties about the Merger may cause our current and prospective employees to experience uncertainty about their future with the company. These uncertainties may impair our ability to retain, recruit or motivate key management, sales, marketing, engineering, technical and other personnel.
In addition, in response to the announcement of the Merger, our existing or prospective customers, suppliers or joint development partners may:
delay, defer or cease purchasing goods or services from or providing goods or services to us;
delay or defer other decisions concerning us, or refuse to extend credit to us;
cease further joint development activities; or
otherwise seek to change the terms on which they do business with us.
While we are attempting to address these risks through communications with our existing and prospective customers, suppliers or joint development partners, they may be reluctant to purchase our products, supply us with goods and service or continue joint development due to the potential uncertainty about the direction of our product offerings and the support and service of our products after we complete the Merger.

The Merger Agreement subjects us to certain restrictive covenants that will restrict the way we conduct our business until either the consummation or the termination of the Merger which could adversely affect our stock price and our operations.
Unless SanDisk otherwise consents in writing (not to be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed) or as expressly contemplated or expressly permitted by the Merger Agreement or confidential disclosure schedules, or where a change in applicable law requires the taking of an action otherwise prohibited, we and each of our subsidiaries will not, subject to certain conditions and exceptions described in detail in the Merger Agreement: (1) amend our organizational documents; (2) redeem or purchase any of our outstanding common stock (except in respect of (A) any tax withholding or exercise price in connection with equity or equity-based awards granted pursuant to our equity compensation plans, and (B) repurchases pursuant to any previously announced stock repurchase programs) or pay any dividend (other than dividends in the ordinary course and consistent with our past practice) or distribution with respect to any of our capital stock or otherwise make any payments to our shareholders; (3) issue, split, combine, subdivide or reclassify any of our capital stock; (4) adopt any plan of liquidation or reorganization other than the Merger; (5) make certain acquisitions or dispositions of any entity, any equity interest thereof or therein, or tangible assets comprising a business or division; or (6) enter into any contract, commitment or arrangement to do any of the foregoing.
Litigation filed against SanDisk and our company could prevent or delay the completion of the Merger or result in the payment of damages following completion of the Merger.
SanDisk and our company and members of our respective board of directors may in the future be parties, among others, to various claims and litigation related to the Merger, including putative shareholder class actions. Among other remedies, the plaintiffs in such matters may seek to enjoin the Merger. The results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict, and could delay or prevent the Merger from becoming effective in a timely manner. Moreover, any future litigation could be time consuming and expensive, could divert SanDisk’s and our management’s attention away from their regular business, and, if any one of these lawsuits is adversely resolved against either SanDisk or our company, could have a material adverse effect on its or our financial condition.
One of the conditions to the closing of the Merger is that no governmental entity (including a court) having jurisdiction over SanDisk or our company shall have issued an order, decree or ruling or taken any other material action enjoining or otherwise prohibiting the consummation of the Merger substantially on the terms contemplated by the Merger Agreement that remains in effect, and that no law shall have been enacted or promulgated by any governmental entity that makes the consummation of the Merger illegal and remains in effect. Consequently, if any lawsuits are not settled or otherwise resolved and an order or other relief is granted enjoining or prohibiting, delaying or otherwise adversely affecting SanDisk’s and/or our ability to complete the Merger on the terms contemplated by the Merger Agreement, then such injunctive or other relief may prevent the Merger from becoming effective in a timely manner or at all.
We may fail to realize the benefits expected from the Merger, which could adversely affect our stock price.
The anticipated benefits we expect from the Merger are, necessarily, based on projections and assumptions about our combined business with SanDisk, which may not materialize as expected or which may prove to be inaccurate. The value of our common stock following the completionactual cost savings of the Merger could be adversely affected if weless than anticipated. Additionally, the integration of SanDisk’s operations into our operations may also increase the risk that our internal controls are unablefound to realize the anticipated benefits from the Merger on a timely basis or at all, including realizing the anticipated synergies from the Merger in the anticipated amounts or within the anticipated timeframes or cost expectations or at all. be ineffective.

Achieving the benefits of the Merger will depend, in part, on our ability to integrate the business and operations of SanDisk successfully and efficiently with our business. The challenges involved in this integration, which will be complex and time-consuming, include, but are not limited to, the following:

difficulties entering new markets or manufacturing in new geographies where we have no or limited direct prior experience;

successfully managing relationships with our strategic partners, and our combined supplier and customer base;

coordinating and integrating independent research and development (“R&D”) and engineering teams across technologies and product platforms to enhance product development while reducing costs;

increased levels of investment in R&D, manufacturing capability and technology enhancement relating to SanDisk’s business;

successfully transitioning to 3-dimensional (“3D”) NAND and future technologies;

coordinating sales and marketing efforts to effectively position the combined company’s capabilities and the direction of product development;
limitations or restrictions required by regulatory authorities on the ability of SanDisk’s and our management to conduct planning regarding the integration of the two companies;
difficulties in integrating the systems and processprocesses of two companies with complex operations includingand multiple manufacturing sites;

the increased scale and complexity of our operations resulting from the Merger;

retaining key employees;

obligations that we will have to counterparties of SanDisk that arise as a result of the change in control of SanDisk; and

the diversion of management attention from other important business objectives.


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If we do not successfully manage these issues and the other challenges inherent in integrating an acquired business of the size and complexity of SanDisk, then we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the Merger and our revenue, expenses, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
In addition, SanDisk is dependent on its business ventures (“Flash Ventures”) with Toshiba Corporation (“Toshiba”) and other strategic relationships with Toshiba, and therefore the combined company’s business, financial condition and operating results, and our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from the Merger, will be dependent on the success of Flash Ventures and other strategic relationships with Toshiba. Substantially all of SanDisk’s NAND flash memory is supplied by Flash Ventures, which limits SanDisk’s ability to respond to demand changes, and Flash Ventures is expected to manufacture and supply 3D NAND to SanDisk. In addition, SanDisk partners with Toshiba on the development of NAND flash technology and it has entered into strategic partnerships with Toshiba relating to research and development for the next technology transitions of NAND flash and alternative technologies beyond NAND flash technologies. These ventures and strategic partnerships are subject to various risks that could harm the value of the combined company’s investments, its revenue and costs, its future rate of spending, its technology plans and its future growth opportunities. Under the terms of SanDisk’s venture agreements with Toshiba, which govern the operations of Flash Ventures, SanDisk has limited power to unilaterally direct the activities that most significantly impact Flash Ventures’ performance. Although SanDisk and Toshiba have a long history of aligning on important manufacturing and technology development decisions, the integration of SanDisk into Western Digital’s organization could complicate the process of reaching agreement with Toshiba in a timely and favorable manner. In addition, Toshiba’s financial position or shift in strategic priorities could adversely impact SanDisk and the combined company’s business. Flash Ventures require significant investments by both Toshiba and SanDisk for technology transitions, including the transition to 3D NAND, and capacity expansions, and if Toshiba or SanDisk does not provide sufficient resources or have adequate access to credit, these investments could be delayed or reduced. In addition, in the event that lease financings for Flash Ventures are not available on favorable terms or at all, more cash would be required to fund these investments. A change in the management or control of Toshiba’s semiconductor business could lead to delays in decision-making or changes in strategic direction that could adversely impact Flash Ventures.
Our shareholders will have a reduced ownership and voting interest after completionhigh level of the Merger and will exercise less influence over management.
Our shareholders currently have the right to vote on the election of our board of directors and on other matters affecting our company. Immediately following the Merger, our shareholders will own approximately 82.80% of our common stock, and SanDisk’s shareholders will own approximately 17.20% of our common stock, based on the number of shares of SanDisk and our common stock outstanding as of April 3, 2016, and provided that there is no reallocation of the Merger consideration between cash and shares of our common stock and excluding potential issuance of shares to be issued under SanDisk’s outstanding convertible notes. As a result, our current shareholders will have less influence on the management and policies of the combined company than they now have on our management and our policies.
Uncertainties associated with the Merger may cause a loss of employees and may otherwise materially adversely affect the future business and operations of the combined company.
The combined company’s success after the Merger will depend in part upon the ability of the combined company to retain executive officers and key employees. In some of the fields in which SanDisk and we operate, there are only a limited number of people in the job market who possess the requisite skills and it may be increasingly difficult for the combined company to hire personnel over time. The combined company will operate in several geographic locations where the labor markets, especially for application engineers, are particularly competitive. SanDisk and we have both experienced difficulty in hiring and retaining sufficient numbers of qualified management, manufacturing, technical, application engineering, marketing, sales and support personnel in parts of the respective businesses.
Current and prospective employees of each company may experience uncertainty about their roles with the combined company following the Merger. In addition, key employees may depart because of issues relating to the uncertainty and difficulty of integration or a desire not to remain with the combined company following the Merger. The loss of services of any key personnel or the inability to hire new personnel with the requisite skills could restrict the ability of the combined company to develop new products or enhance existing products in a timely manner, to sell products to customers or to manage the business of the combined company effectively. Also, the business, financial condition and results of operations of the combined company could be materially adversely affected by the loss of any of its key employees, by the failure of any key employee to

perform in his or her current position, or by the combined company’s inability to attract and retain skilled employees, particularly engineers.
Third parties may claim that the combined company is infringing their intellectual property, and the combined company could suffer significant litigation or licensing expenses or be prevented from selling its products or services.
The semiconductor industry is characterized by uncertain and conflicting intellectual property claims and vigorous protection and pursuit of these rights. We and SanDisk are both frequently involved in disputes regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Each company has in the past received, and the combined company may in the future receive, communications from third parties asserting that certain of its products, processes or technologies infringe upon their patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights. The combined company may also receive claims of potential infringement if it attempts to license intellectual property to others. Defending these claims may be costly and time consuming, and may divert the attention of management and key personnel from other business issues. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation increase these risks. Claims of intellectual property infringement also might require the combined company to enter into costly royalty or license agreements. The combined company may be unable to obtain royalty or license agreements on acceptable terms, or at all. Similarly, changing its products or processes to avoid infringing the rights of others may be costly or impractical. The combined company may also be subject to significant damages or injunctions against development and sale of certain of its products and services. Resolution of such disputes could have a material adverse effect on the combined company’s results of operations or financial condition and may require material changes in production processes and products.
The combined company may not be able to adequately protect or enforce its intellectual property rights, which could harm its competitive position, license and royalty revenue could decline and litigation to enforce its rights could be costly.
The combined company’s success and future revenue growth will depend, in part, on its ability to protect its intellectual property. The combined company will primarily rely on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure agreements and other methods, to protect its proprietary technologies and processes. It is possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose, illegally or otherwise, the combined company’s proprietary technologies and processes, despite efforts of the combined company to protect its proprietary technologies and processes. While the combined company will hold a significant number of patents, there can be no assurances that such patents will not be challenged. As new patents are issued, the claims allowed may not be sufficiently broad to protect the combined company’s technology. In addition, any of SanDisk’s or our existing patents, and any future patents issued to the combined company, may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, either in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement or otherwise. As such, any rights granted under these patents may not provide the combined company with meaningful protection. SanDisk and we may not have, and in the future the combined company may not have, foreign patents or pending applications corresponding to its U.S. patents and applications. Even if foreign patents are granted, effective enforcement in foreign countries may not be available. If the combined company’s patents do not adequately protect its technology, competitors may be able to offer products similar to the combined company’s products. The combined company’s competitors may also be able to develop similar technology independently or design around its patents.
SanDisk’s license agreements may require it in certain instances to recognize license revenue related to a particular licensee all in one period instead of over time, which could create volatility in its licensing revenue. A portion of its license and royalty revenue is based on sales of product categories as well as underlying technology, and fluctuations in the sales of those products or technology adoption rates would also result in fluctuations in the license and royalty revenue due to SanDisk under its agreements. If SanDisk’s existing licensees do not renew their licenses upon expiration, renew them on less favorable terms, exercise their option to terminate the license or fail to exercise their option to extend the licenses, or the combined company is not successful in signing new licensees in the future, the combined company’s license revenue, profitability and cash provided by operating activities would be harmed. To the extent that the combined company is unable to renew license agreements under similar terms, or at all, whether because of the consummation of the Merger or otherwise, the combined company’s financial results would be harmed by the reduced license and royalty revenue.
The combined company may incur significant patent litigation costs as part of the licensing process or to enforce its patents. Litigation is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the combined company’s expectations. If the combined company brings a patent infringement action and is not successful, its competitors would be able to use similar technology to compete with it. Moreover, the defendant in such an action may successfully countersue for infringement of their patents or assert a counterclaim that the combined company’s patents are invalid or unenforceable. If the combined company does not prevail in the defense of patent infringement claims, it could be required to pay substantial damages and royalties, cease the manufacture, use and sale of infringing products in one or more geographic locations, expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology, discontinue the use of specific processes or obtain licenses to the technology infringed, all of which could be materially adverse to the business and results of operations of the combined company.

The Merger could have an adverse effect on the SanDisk brands and our brands.
The success of SanDisk and our company is largely dependent upon its and our ability to maintain and enhance the value of our respective brands, customers’ connection to and perception of the brands, and a positive relationship with customers and suppliers. Brand value, and as a result our business and results of operations, could be severely damaged if the Merger receives considerable negative publicity or if customers or suppliers otherwise come to have a diminished view of the brands as a result of the Merger or the common ownership of the existing businesses.
The use of cash and incurrence of substantial indebtedness in connection with the financing of the Mergerdebt may have an adverse impact on our liquidity, limitrestrict our flexibility in respondingcurrent and future operations, particularly our ability to otherrespond to business opportunities, and increase our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions.
The Merger will be financed in part by the use of our cash on hand and the incurrence of a significant amount of indebtedness. As of April 1, 2016, we had approximately $5.9 billion of cash and cash equivalents, approximately $146 million of short-term investments and approximately $2.2 billion of total debt outstanding.
In connection with the Merger, on April 13, 2016, we issued $1.875 billion in senior secured notes and $3.35 billion in senior unsecured notes, and the proceeds from the issuance of these notes have been deposited into escrow pending the closing of the Merger. We also entered into new credit facilities on April 29, 2016 providing for approximately $9.875 billion in senior secured credit facilities consisting of a $4.125 billion term loan A tranche, a $3.750 billion term loan B tranche, a €885 million term loan B tranche and a $1.000 billion revolving credit facility. We borrowed the full amount available under the U.S. dollar denominated term loan B tranche and the Euro-denominated term loan B tranche on April 29, 2016 and the proceeds of these borrowings have been deposited into escrow pending the closing of the Merger. In addition, we expect to enter into an additional $3.0 billion bridge facility on the closing date of the Merger. The proceeds from the notes issuance and new debt facilities are expected to be used to pay part of the purchase price of the Merger, refinance existing debt of both our company and SanDisk and pay transaction related fees and expenses. The use of cash on hand and indebtedness to finance the Merger will reduce our liquidity and could cause us to place more reliance on cash generated from operations to pay principal and interest on our debt, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow for working capital, dividend and capital expenditure needs or to pursue other potential strategic plans.
The terms of the agreements governingsubstantially increased our indebtedness, may restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes or to pursue our business strategies, andwhich could adversely affect our capital resources, financial conditionability to fulfill our obligations and liquidity.have a negative impact on our financing options and liquidity position. As of December 30, 2016, our total indebtedness was $13.3 billion, and we had $1.0 billion of additional borrowing availability under our revolving credit facility.
The agreements that govern our indebtedness contain, or will contain upon
Our high level of debt could have significant consequences, which include, but are not limited to, the closing of the Merger, a number of restrictive covenants that will impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us and may limitfollowing:

limiting our ability to engageobtain additional financing in acts that maythe future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general corporate purposes;

requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows to be in our long-term best interests, including, amongdedicated to debt service payments instead of other things, restrictionspurposes, thereby reducing the amount of cash flows available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, R&D and other general corporate purposes;

imposing financial and other restrictive covenants on our operations, including limiting our ability to:
incur, assume or guarantee additional indebtedness;
to (i) declare or pay dividends or purchase our common stock; (ii) purchase assets, make other distributions with respect to, or purchase or otherwise acquire or retire for value, equity interests;
make principal payments on, or redeem or repurchase, subordinated debt;
make loans, advances or other investments;
incur liens;
sell or otherwise dispose of assets, including capital stock of subsidiaries;
investments, complete acquisitions, consolidate or merge with or into, or sell all or substantially all of our assets to, another person; (iii) dispose of assets; (iv) incur liens; and
(v) enter into transactions with affiliates.affiliates;
In addition, our credit facilities require
placing us at a competitive disadvantage to comply with certain financial maintenance covenants. Our ability to satisfy these financial maintenance covenants can be affected by events beyond our control,competitors carrying less debt; and we cannot assure you that we will meet them. The indebtedness and these restrictive covenants may have the effect, among other things, of limiting our flexibility in the conduct of our business and

making us more vulnerable to economic downturns and adverselimiting our ability to withstand competitive and industry conditions.
A breach of the covenants under these agreements could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness, which, if not curedpressures or waived, could result in us having to repay our borrowings or repay our notes before their due dates. Such default may allow the debt holders to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. If we are forced to refinance these borrowings or our notes on less favorable terms or if we were to experience difficulty in refinancing the debt prior to maturity, our results of operations or financial condition could be materially affected. In addition, an event of default under our credit facilities may permit the lenders under our credit facilities to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under such credit facilities. Furthermore,

if we are unable to repay the amounts due and payable under our credit facilities and our senior secured notes, those lenders or holders of notes may be able to proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness. In the event our lenders or holders of notes accelerate the repayment of such borrowings, we cannot assure you that we will have sufficient assets to repay such indebtedness.
As a result of these restrictions, we may be:
limited in how we conduct our business;
unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to operate during general economic or business downturns; or
unable to compete effectively, take advantage of new business opportunities orto grow in accordance with our plans.business.
Because of high debt levels, we may not be able to service our debt obligations in accordance with their terms after the completion of the Merger.
Our ability to meet our expense andthe debt service obligations contained in theour debt agreements we have entered and expect to enter into with respect to the indebtedness we incurred and will further incur to finance the Merger will depend on our available cash and our future performance, which will be affected by financial, business, economic and other factors, including potential changes in laws or regulations, industry conditions, industry supply and demand balance, customer preferences, the success of our products and pressure from competitors. If we are unable to meet our debt service obligations after the Merger or should we fail to comply with our financial and other restrictive covenants contained in the agreements governing our indebtedness, causing an event of default under the applicable indebtedness, the debt holders could accelerate the related debt and that may result in the acceleration of any other debt, leases or other obligations to which a cross acceleration or cross-default provision applies. If we are required to repay our indebtedness before their due dates, we may not have sufficient funds available to repay such indebtedness and we may be required to refinance all or part of our debt, sell important strategic assets at unfavorable prices, incur additional indebtedness or issue common stock or other equity securities. We may not be able to, at any given time, refinance our debt, sell assets, incur additional indebtedness or issue equity securities on terms acceptable to us, in amounts sufficient to meet our needs or at all. If we are able to raise additional funds through the issuance of equity securities, such issuance would also result in dilution to our shareholders. Our inability to service our debt obligations or refinance our debt could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions or operating results after the Merger. In addition, our debt obligations may limit our ability to make required investments in capacity, technology or other areas of our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business,and financial conditions or operating results.condition. Further, if we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our secured indebtedness, the holdersholder of such debt could proceed against the collateral securing that indebtedness.
The Merger Refinancing our indebtedness may result in significant chargesalso require us to expense previous debt issuance costs or other liabilities that could adversely affect the financial results of the combined company.
The financial results of the combined company may be adversely affected by cash expenses and non-cash accounting charges incurred in connection with our integration of the business and operations of SanDisk. The amount and timing of these possible charges are not yet known. Further, our failure to identify or accurately assess the magnitude of certain liabilities that we are assuming in the Merger could result in unexpected litigation or regulatory exposure, unfavorable accounting charges, unexpected increases in taxes due, a loss of anticipated tax benefits or other adverse effects on our business, operating results or financial condition. The price of our common stock following the Merger could decline to the extent the combined company’s financial results are materially affected by any of these events.
The market for our common stock may be adversely affected by theincur new debt issuance of shares pursuant to the Merger.
If the Merger is consummated, we will issue an estimated 48.44 million shares of our common stock to SanDisk shareholders, based on the number of shares of SanDisk common stock outstanding on April 3, 2016, provided that there is no reallocation of the Merger consideration between cash and shares of our common stock and all of the SanDisk equity awards continue to be stock settled and excluding potential issuances of shares to be issued under SanDisk’s outstanding convertible notes. The increase in the number of outstanding shares of our common stock may lead to sales of such stock or the perception that such sales may occur, either of which may adversely affect the market for, and the market price of, our common stock.
The issuance of shares of our common stock in connection with the Merger, and any future offerings of our securities, will dilute our shareholders’ ownership interest in our company.
The Merger will be financed in part by the issuance of additional shares of our common stock to shareholders of SanDisk and assuming that there is no reallocation of the Merger consideration between cash and shares of our common stock, comprised of approximately 20.80% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock, based on the number of issued and outstanding shares of our common stock and SanDisk’s common stock outstanding on April 3, 2016, excluding potential issuances of shares to be issued under SanDisk’s outstanding convertible notes. These issuances of additional shares of ourcosts.

common stock will dilute our shareholders’ ownership interest in our company, and our shareholders will have a reduced ownership and voting interest in our company following the completion of either or both of these transactions.
In addition, followingour credit ratings impact the Merger,cost and availability of future borrowings and, accordingly, our cost of capital. Our ratings reflect the opinions of the ratings agencies of our financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet our debt obligations. There can be no assurance that we will achieve a particular rating or maintain a particular rating in the future.


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We may from time to time seek to refinance the substantial indebtedness we will incurincurred to finance the Merger by issuing additional shares of our common stock in one or more securities offerings. These securities offerings may dilute our existing shareholders, and SanDisk shareholders who become our shareholders as a result of the Merger, reduce the value of our common stock, or both. Because our decision to issue securities will depend on, among other things, market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of any future securities offerings. Thus, holders of our common stock bear the risk of our future offerings diluting and potentially reducing the value of our common stock.

If we are unable to successfully integrate the business and operations of HGST, our business and financial condition may be adversely affected.

In connection with obtaining the regulatory approvals required to complete the acquisition of HGST, we agreed to certain conditions required by MOFCOM,the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (“MOFCOM”), including adopting measures to keep HGST as an independent competitor until MOFCOM agreed otherwise. On October 19, 2015, MOFCOM announced that it had made a decision allowing us to integrate substantial portions of our HGST and WD subsidiaries, provided that we continue to offer both HGST and WD product brands and maintain separate sales teams that will separately offer products under the WD and HGST brands for two years from the date of the decision.

As a result of MOFCOM’s decision, we immediately began planning for the integration of the substantial portions of our HGST and WD subsidiaries that we are now allowed to integrate (including corporate functions, researchR&D, recording heads and development, heads andmagnetic media operations, engineering and manufacturing), with such. We expect this integration to occurcontinue through the end of calendar year 2017. Our integration efforts during this time may involve significant management time and create uncertainty for employees and customers, andcustomers. Any delays in the integration process could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. It is possible that the integration process could result in the loss of key employees, the loss of customers, the disruption of our company’s ongoing business or in unexpected integration issues, higher than expected integration costs and an overall integration process that takes longer than originally anticipated. Additionally, the integration of the operations of our HGST and WDWestern Digital Technologies, Inc. (“WDT”) subsidiaries may also increase the risk that our internal controls are found to be ineffective. Further, until we are able to begin combining our HGST and WD product brands and sales teams on October 19, 2017, we will continue to incur additional costs to maintain separate brands and sales teams. These additional costs, along with any delay in the integration process and anyor higher than expected integration costs or other integration issues, could adversely affect our ability to achieve the full operating expense synergies we expect from integration of the businesses of our HGST and WD subsidiaries, whichWDT subsidiaries. Any failure to achieve the full operating expense synergies that we expect from this integration could harm our business and financial condition. Achieving these synergies is also subject to significant business, operational, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, and we cannot assure you that any or all of these synergies will be achieved in the anticipated amounts or within the anticipated timeframestime frames or cost expectations or at all.
Risks Related to Our Business
Adverse global economic conditions and credit market uncertainty could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Adverse global economic conditions and uncertain conditions in the credit market have had, and in the future could have, a significant adverse effect on our company and on the storage industry as a whole. Several factors contribute to these conditions and this uncertainty, including, but not limited to, volatility in the financial and real estate markets, cost increases and other macroeconomic factors. Some of the risks and uncertainties we face as a result of these conditions include the following:
Volatile Demand. Our direct and indirect customers may delay or reduce their purchases of our products and systems containing our products. In addition, many of our customers rely on credit financing to purchase our products. If negative conditions in the global credit markets prevent our customers’ access to credit, product orders may decrease, which could result in lower revenue. Likewise, if our suppliers, sub-suppliers and sub-contractors (collectively referred to as “suppliers”) face challenges in obtaining credit, in selling their products or otherwise in operating their businesses, they may be unable to offer the materials we use to manufacture our products. These actions could result in reductions in our revenue and increased operating costs, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Restructuring Activities. If demand for our products slows as a result of a deterioration in economic conditions, we may undertake restructuring activities to realign our cost structure with softening demand. The occurrence of restructuring activities could result in impairment charges and other expenses, which could adversely impact our results of operations or financial condition.
Credit Volatility and Loss of Receivables. We extend credit and payment terms to some of our customers. In addition to ongoing credit evaluations of our customers’ financial condition, we traditionally seek to mitigate

our credit risk by purchasing credit insurance on certainTable of our accounts receivable balances. As a result of the continued uncertainty and volatility in global economic conditions, however, we may find it increasingly difficult to be able to insure these accounts receivable. We could suffer significant losses if a customer whose accounts receivable we have not insured, or have underinsured, fails and is unable to pay us. Additionally, negative or uncertain global economic conditions increase the risk that if a customer whose accounts receivable we have insured fails, the financial condition of the insurance carrier for such customer account may have also deteriorated such that it cannot cover our loss. A significant loss of an accounts receivable that we cannot recover through credit insurance would have a negative impact on our financial results.Contents
Impairment Charges. We test goodwill for impairment annually as of the first day of our fourth fiscal quarter and at other times if events have occurred or circumstances exist that indicate the carrying value of goodwill may no longer be recoverable. Negative or uncertain global economic conditions could result in circumstances, such as a sustained decline in our stock price and market capitalization or a decrease in our forecasted cash flows such that they are insufficient, indicating that the carrying value of our long-lived assets or goodwill may be impaired. If we are required to record a significant charge to earnings in our consolidated financial statements because an impairment of our long-lived assets or goodwill is determined, our results of operations will be adversely affected. For example, given the recent volatility of our market capitalization, it is possible that our goodwill could become impaired in the near term which could result in a material charge and adversely affect our results of operations.
We participate in a highly competitive industry that is subject to declining average selling prices (“ASPs”), volatile gross margins and significant shifts in market share, all of which could adversely affect our operating results.results and financial condition.

Demand for our devices, software and solutions that we offer to our customers, which we refer to in this Item 1A as our “products”, depends in large part on the demand for systems (including personal computers (“PCs”) and mobile devices) manufactured by our customers and on storage upgrades to existing systems. The demand for systems has been volatile in the past and often has had an exaggerated effect on the demand for our products in any given period. As a result,The price of NAND flash memory is influenced by, among other factors, the balance between supply and demand, including the effects of new fab capacity in the industry, macroeconomic factors, business conditions, technology transitions, conversion of industry DRAM capacity to NAND, conversion of 2-dimensional (“2D”) NAND capacity to 3D NAND or other actions taken by us or our competitors. The price of hard disk drives (“HDDs”) is influenced by, among other factors, the balance between supply and demand, including the effects of new fab capacity in the industry, macroeconomic factors, business conditions, technology transitions, and other actions taken by us or our competitors. The storage market has experienced periods of excess capacity, which can lead to liquidation of excess inventories and more intensesignificant reductions in price. If these price competition. If more intense price competition occurs, we maychanges occur unnecessarily or in an unexpected manner, there will likely be forced to lower prices sooner and more than expected, which could adverselyan adverse impact on our revenue and gross margins. In addition, we compete based on our ability to offer our customers competitive solutions that provide the most current and desired product and service features. We expect that competition will continue to be intense, and there is a risk that our competitors’ products may be less costly, provide better performance or include additional features when compared to our products. Our ASPs and gross margins also tend to decline when there is a shift in the mix of product sales, and sales of lower priced products increase relative to those of higher priced products. Further, we face potential gross margin pressures resulting from our ASPs declining more rapidly than our cost of goods sold. In addition, rapidRapid technological changes often reduce the volume and profitability of sales of existing products and increase the risk of inventory obsolescence. These factors, along with others, may also result in significant shifts in market share among the industry’s major participants, including a substantial decrease in our market share.share, all of which could adversely impact our operating results and financial condition.

Our failure to accurately forecast market and customer demand for our products, or to quickly adjust to forecast changes, could adversely affect our business and financial results or operating efficiencies.

The data storage industry faces difficulties in accurately forecasting market and customer demand for its products. The variety and volume of products we manufacture isare based in part on these forecasts. Accurately forecasting demand has become increasingly difficult for us, our customers and our suppliers in light of the volatility in global economic conditions and industry consolidation, resulting in less availability of historical market data for certain product segments. Further, for many of our OEMsoriginal equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) utilizing just-in-time inventory, we do not generally require firm order commitments and instead receive a periodic forecast of requirements, which may prove to be inaccurate. In addition, because our products are designed to be largely interchangeable with competitors’ products, our demand forecasts may be impacted significantly by the strategic actions of our competitors. As forecasting demand becomes more difficult, the risk that our forecasts are not in line with demand increases. If our forecasts exceed actual market demand, then we could experience periods of product oversupply, excess inventory and price decreases, which could impact our financial performance. If market demand increases significantly beyond our forecasts or beyond our ability to add manufacturing capacity, then we may not be able to satisfy customer product needs, possibly resulting in a loss of market share if our competitors are able to meet customer demands. In addition, some of our components have long lead-times, requiring us to place orders several months in advance of anticipated demand. Such long lead-times increase the risk of excess inventory or loss of sales in the event our forecasts vary substantially from actual demand.

We experience significant sales seasonality and cyclicality, which could cause our operating results to fluctuate.

Sales of computer systems, mobile devices, storage subsystems, gaming consoles and consumer electronics ("CE"(“CE”) tend to be seasonal and cyclical, and therefore we expect to continue to experience seasonality and cyclicality in our business as we respond to variations in our customers’ demand for our products. However, changes in seasonal and cyclical patterns have made it, and could continue to make it, more difficult for us to forecast demand, especially as a result of the current macroeconomic environment. Changes in the product or channel mix of our business can also impact seasonal and cyclical patterns, adding complexity in forecasting demand. Seasonality and cyclicality also may lead to higher volatility in our stock price. It is difficult

for us to evaluate the degree to which seasonality and cyclicality may affect our stock price or business in future periods because of the rate and unpredictability of product transitions and new product introductions and macroeconomic conditions.


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Our sales to the CE, cloud computing, network attached storage (NAS)(“NAS”), surveillance systems and enterprise markets, which have accounted for and may continue accounting for an increasing percentage of our overall revenue, may grow at a slower rate than current estimates or not at all, which could materially adversely impact our operating results.results and financial condition.

The secular growth of digital data has resulted in a more diversified mix of revenue from the CE, cloud computing, NAS, surveillance systems and enterprise markets. As sales into these markets have become a more significant portion of our revenue, events or circumstances that adversely impact demand in these markets, or our inability to address that demand successfully, could materially adversely impact our operating results. For example, demand in, or our sales to, these markets may be adversely affected by the following:

Mobile Devices. There has been and continues to be a rapid growth in devices that do not contain a hard drive such as tablet computers and smart phones. As tablet computers and smart phones provide many of the same capabilities as PCs, they have displaced or materially affected, and we expect will continue to displace or materially affect, the demand for PCs. If we are not successful in adapting our product offerings to include disk drives or alternative storage solutions that address these devices, including through completioneven after our acquisition of the planned SanDisk, Merger, demand for our products in these markets may decrease and our financial results could be materially adversely affected. In addition, global slowdown in the growth rate of mobile devices will also negatively impact our financial results.

Enterprise. The enterprise storage space is comprised of customers with long design, qualification and test cycles prior to sales. We spend substantial time and resources in our sales process without any assurance that our efforts will produce any customer orders on the timelines or in the quantities we expect. These lengthy and uncertain processes also make it difficult for us to forecast demand and timing of customer orders. Due to longer customer product cycles, we may not be able to transition customers to our leading edge products, which would prevent us from benefitting from the technology transitions that enable cost reductions, which may harm our gross margin. Demand for our enterprise solutions from our hyperscale customers is correlated to large projects and expansions which can be sporadic, resulting in demand that is lumpy and less consistent than the consumer-driven demand for many of our solutions. Hyperscale customers may place orders for significant volumes with short lead times that may be difficult for us to fulfill, and sales to hyperscale customers may negatively impact gross margins due to product mix and pricing, each of which could adversely affect our business. In addition, hyperscale companies may internally develop enterprise storage solutions that reduce the demand for our solutions.

Cloud Computing. Consumers traditionally have stored their data on their PC, often supplemented with personal external storage devices. Most businesses also include similar local storage as a primary or secondary storage location. This storage is typically provided by HDDs.HDDs and increasingly solid-state drives (“SSDs”). With cloud computing, applications and data are hosted, accessed and processed through a third-party provider over a broadband Internet connection, potentially reducing or eliminating the need for, among other things, significant storage inside the accessing computer.electronic device. Even if we are successful at increasing revenues from sales to cloud computing customers, if we are not successful in manufacturing compelling products to address the cloud computing opportunity, demand for our products in these other markets may decrease and our financial results could be materially adversely affected. Demand for cloud computing solutions themselves may be volatile due to differing patterns of technology adoption and innovation, improved data storage efficiency by cloud computing service providers, and concerns about data protection by end users.

Obsolete Inventory. In some cases, products we manufacture for these markets are uniquely configured for a single customer’s application, creating a risk of obsolete inventory if anticipated demand is not actually realized. In addition, rapid technological change in our industry increases the risk of inventory obsolescence.

Macroeconomic Conditions. Consumer spending has been, and may continue to be, adversely affected in many regions due to negative macroeconomic conditions and high unemployment levels. Please see the risk factor entitled “AdverseAdverse global economic conditions and credit market uncertainty could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.condition” for moreadditional risks and uncertainties relating to macroeconomic conditions.


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In addition, demand in these marketsareas also could be negatively impacted by developments in the regulation and enforcement of digital rights management and the emergence of new technologies, such as data deduplication,duplication, compression and storage virtualization. If we are not able to respond appropriately, these factors could lead to our customers’ storage needs being satisfied at lower prices with lower capacity hard drives or solid-state storage products, thereby decreasing our revenue or putting us at a disadvantage to competing storage technologies. As a result, even with increasing aggregate demand for digital storage, if we fail to anticipate or timely respond to these developments in the demand for storage, our ASPs could decline, which could adversely affect our operating results.results and financial condition. Furthermore, our ability to accurately read and respond to market trends, such as trends relating to the Internet of Things or big data, could harm our results.

Deterioration in the PC market has accelerated,may continue or accelerate, which could cause our operating results to suffer.

While sales to non-PC markets are becoming a more significant source of revenue, sales to the PC market remain an important part of our business. TheWe believe that sales of PCs have declined due to fundamental changes in the PC market, however, has been, and we expect it to continue to be, adversely affected byincluding the growth of tablet computers, smart phonesalternative mobile devices and similar devices that perform many of the same capabilities as PCs, the lengthening of product life cycles, and macroeconomic conditions. We believe that thefurther deterioration of the PC market has accelerated recently, and that this accelerated deterioration may continue or further accelerate, which could cause our operating results and financial condition to suffer. Additionally, if demand in the PC market is worse than expected as a result of these or other conditions, or demand for our products in the PC market may decreasedecreases at a faster rate andthan expected, our operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Selling to the retail market is an important part of our business, and if we fail to maintain and grow our market share or gain market acceptance of our branded products, our operating results could suffer.

Selling branded products is an important part of our business, and as our branded products revenue increases as a portion of our overall revenue, our success in the retail market becomes increasingly important to our operating results. Our success in the retail market depends in large part on our ability to maintain our brand image and corporate reputation and to expand into and gain market acceptance of our products in multiple channels. We must successfully respond to the rapid change away from traditional advertising media, marketing and sales methods to the use of Internet media and advertising, particularly social media, and online sales, or our brand and retail sales could be negatively affected. Adverse publicity, whether or not justified, or allegations of product or service quality issues, even if false or unfounded, could tarnish our reputation and cause our customers to choose products offered by our competitors. In addition, the proliferation of new methods of mass communication facilitated by the Internet makes it easier for false or unfounded allegations to adversely affect our brand image and reputation. If customers no longer maintain a preference for WD, HGST or HGST™SanDisk brand products, our operating results may be adversely affected. A significant portion of our sales is made through retailers, and if our retailers are not successful in selling our products, not only would our revenue decrease, but we could also experience lower gross margin due to the return of unsold inventory or the protection we provide to retailers against price declines.

Sales in the distribution channel are important to our business, and if we fail to respond to demand changes in distribution markets or if distribution markets for our products weaken, our operating results could suffer.

Our distribution customers typically sell to small computer manufacturers, dealers, systems integrators and other resellers. We face significant competition in this channel as a result of limited product qualification programs and a significant focus on price and availability of product. In addition, the PC market is experiencing a shift to notebook and other mobile devices and, as a result, more computing devices are being delivered to the market as complete systems, which could weaken the distribution market. If we fail to respond to changes in demand in the distribution market, our operating results could suffer. Additionally, if the distribution market weakens as a result of a slowing PC growth rate, technology transitions or a significant change in consumer buying preference, or if we experience significant price declines due to demand changes in the distribution channel, then our operating results would be adversely affected. Negative changes in the credit-worthiness or the ability to access credit, or the bankruptcy or shutdown of any of our significant retail or distribution partners would harm our revenue and our ability to collect outstanding receivable balances.


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Loss of market share with or by a key customer, or consolidation among our customer base, could harm our operating results.

During the quarterthree and six months ended April 1,December 30, 2016, 45%43% and 42%, respectively, of our revenue came from sales to our top 10 customers. These customers have a variety of suppliers to choose from and therefore can make substantial demands on us, including demands on product pricing and on contractual terms, often resulting in the allocation of risk to us as the supplier. Our ability to maintain strong relationships with our principal customers is essential to our future performance. If we lose a key customer, if any of our key customers reduce their orders of our products or require us to reduce our prices before we are able to reduce costs, if a customer is acquired by one of our competitors or if a key customer suffers financial hardship, our operating results and financial condition would likely be harmed.

Additionally, if there is consolidation among our customer base, our customers may be able to command increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could adversely affect our profitability. In addition, if, as a result of increased leverage, customer pressures require us to reduce our pricing such that our gross margins are diminished, we could decideit might not be feasible to sell our products to a particular customer, which could result in a decrease in our revenue. Consolidation among our customer base may also lead to reduced demand for our products, replacement of our products by the combined entity with those of our competitors and cancellations of orders, each of which could harm our operating results.

Also, the storage ecosystem is constantly evolving, and our traditional customer base is changing. Fewer companies now hold greater market share for certain applications and services, such as mobile, social media, shopping and streaming media. As a result, the competitive landscape is changing, giving these companies increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could adversely affect our profitability. In addition, the changes in our evolving customer base create new selling and distribution patterns to which we must adapt. To remain competitive, we must respond to these changes by ensuring we have proper scale in this evolving market, as well as offer products that meet the technological requirements of this customer base at competitive pricing points. To the extent we are not successful in adequately responding to these changes, our operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

Expansion into new markets may increase the complexity of our business, cause us to increase our researchR&D expenses and development expenses to develop new productsinvestments in manufacturing capability, technology enhancements and technologies or cause our capital expenditures to increase,go-to-market capability, and if we are unable to successfully adapt our business processes and product offerings as required by these new markets, our ability to grow will be adversely affected.

To remain a significant supplier in the storage industry and to expand into new markets, we will need to offer a broadbroader range of storage products to our customers. We currently offer a variety of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch hard drives, solid state drives and systems, flash storage solutions, and other products for the PC, mobile, enterprise, data center and other storage markets. As we expand our product lines to sell into new markets, such as our recent entry into active archive systems and particularly followingnew flash memory business through the planned SanDisk Merger, including the vertically integrated business model through our ventures with Toshiba Corporation (“Toshiba”) to develop and manufacture NAND flash memory products (“Flash Ventures”), the overall complexity of our business may increase at an accelerated rate and we may become subject to different market dynamics. These dynamics may include, among other things, different demand volume, cyclicality, seasonality, product requirements, sales channels, and warranty and return policies. In addition, expansion into other markets may result in increases

in research and developmentR&D expenses and substantial investments in manufacturing capability, or technology enhancements.enhancements and go-to-market capability. Flash Ventures requires significant investments by both Toshiba and us for technology transitions, including the transition to 3D NAND, and capacity expansions. If we fail to successfully expand into new markets with products that we do not currently offer, we may lose business to our competitors or new entrants who offer these products.


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Our vertical integration of recording head and magnetic media manufacturing makes us dependent on our ability to timely and cost-effectively develop recording heads and magnetic media with leading technology and overall quality, increasing capital expenditure costs and asset utilization risks for our business.

We develop and manufacture a substantial portion of the recording heads and magnetic media used in the hard drive products we produce. Consequently, we are more dependent upon our own development and execution efforts and less able to take advantage of recording head and magnetic media technologies developed by other manufacturers. Technology transition for headrecording heads and magnetic media designs is critical to increasing our volume production of recording heads and magnetic media. We may be unsuccessful in timely and cost-effectively developing and manufacturing recording heads or magnetic media for products using future technologies. We also may not effectively transition our recording head or magnetic media design and technology to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields using the technologies necessary to satisfy our customers’ product needs, or we may encounter quality problems with the recording heads or magnetic media we manufacture. If we are unable to timely and cost-effectively develop recording heads and magnetic media with leading technology and overall quality, our ability to sell our products may be significantly diminished, which could materially and adversely affect our business and financial results.

In addition, as a result of our vertical integration of headrecording heads and magnetic media manufacturing, we make more capital investments and carry a higher percentage of fixed costs than we would if we were not vertically integrated. If our overall level of production decreases for any reason, and we are unable to reduce our fixed costs to match sales, our recording head or magnetic media manufacturing assets may face underutilization that may impact our operating results. We are therefore subject to additional risks related to overall asset utilization, including the need to operate at high levels of utilization to drive competitive costs and the need for assured supply of components that we do not manufacture ourselves. In addition, as a result of adverse labor rates or availability, we may be required to increase investments in automation, which may cause our capital expenditures to increase. If we do not adequately address the challenges related to our recording head or magnetic media manufacturing operations, our ongoing operations could be disrupted, resulting in a decrease in our revenue or profit margins and negatively impacting our operating results.

We make significant investments in research and developmentR&D to improve our technology and develop new technologies, and unsuccessful investments or investments that are not cost effective could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a leading supplier of hard drives and a major supplier of enterprise SSDs,flash storage solutions, we make significant investments to maintain our existing products and to lead innovation and development of new technologies. This strategy requires us to make significant investments in research and development and, in order to remain competitive,R&D. In addition, we may increase our capital expenditures and expenses above our historical run-rate model.model in order to remain competitive or as a result of the Merger with SanDisk, which has historically maintained higher levels of investment in R&D than our company. The current inherent physical limitations associated with storage technologies are resulting in more costly capital expenditures that reduce the cost benefits of technology transitions and could limit our ability to keep pace with reductions in ASPs. These investments may not result in viable technologies or products, and even if they do result in viable technologies or products, they may not be profitable or accepted by the market. Significant investments in unsuccessful or cost-ineffective research and developmentR&D efforts could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, increased investments in technology could cause our cost structure to fall out of alignment with demand for our products, which would have a negative impact on our financial results.


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Current or future competitors may gain a technology advantage or develop an advantageous cost structure that we cannot match.

It may be possible for our current or future competitors to gain an advantage in product technology, manufacturing technology, or process technology, which may allow them to offer products or services that have a significant advantage over the products and services that we offer. Advantages could be in price, capacity, performance, reliability, serviceability, industry standards or formats, brand and marketing, or other attributes. A competitive cost structure for our products, including critical components, labor and overhead, is also critical to the success of our business. We may be at a competitive disadvantage to any companies that are able to gain a technological or cost structure advantage. The Chinese government and various agencies, state-owned or affiliated enterprises and investment funds are making significant investments to promote China’s domestic semiconductor industry consistent with the government’s stated national policy objectives. If we are unable to effectively compete with any manufacturers located in China or non-Chinese competitors benefitting from alliances with Chinese companies in the markets where we compete, our operating results and financial condition will suffer.

Consolidation within the data storage industry could provide competitive advantages to our competitors.

The data storage industry as a whole has experienced consolidation over the past several years through acquisitions, consolidationsmergers and decisions by industry players to exit the industry. Consolidation across the industry, including by our competitors, may enhance their capacity, abilities and resources and lower their cost structure, causing us to be at a competitive disadvantage.

Some of our competitors with diversified business units outside of storage products, may, over extended periods of time, sell storage products at prices that we cannot profitably match.

Some of our competitors earn a significant portion of their revenue from business units outside of storage products. Because they do not depend solely on sales of storage products to achieve profitability, they may sell storage products at lower prices and operate their storage business unit at a loss over an extended period of time while still remaining profitable overall. In addition, if these competitors can increase sales of non-storage products to the same customers, they may benefit from selling their storage products at lower prices. Our operating results may be adversely affected if we cannot successfully compete with the pricing by these companies.

If we fail to qualify our products and achieve design wins with our customers, it may have a significant adverse impact on our sales and margins.

We regularly engage in new product qualification with our customers.customers, and the product qualification process may be lengthy for some customers, including those in enterprise storage. Once a product is accepted for qualification testing, failures or delays in the qualification process can result in delayed or reduced product sales, reduced product margins caused by having to continue to offer a more costly current generation product, or lost sales to that customer until the next generation of products is introduced. The effect of missing a product qualification opportunity is magnified by the limited number of high volume OEMs and hyperscale customers, which continue to consolidate their share of the storage markets. Likewise, if product life cycles lengthen, we may have a significantly longer period to wait before we have an opportunity to qualify a new product with a customer, which could reduce our profits because we expect declining gross margins on our current generation products as a result of competitive pressures. Even if our products meet customer specifications, our sales to these customers are dependent upon the customers choosing our products over those of our competitors and purchasing our products in sufficient volume, our ability to supply our products in sufficient quantity and in a timely manner and, with respect to OEM partners, the OEMs’ ability to create, market and successfully sell products containing our solutions. Moreover, in transitioning to new technologies, such as 3D NAND, and products, we may not achieve design wins, our customers may delay transition to these new technologies, our competitors may transition more quickly than we do, or we may experience product delays, cost overruns or performance issues that could harm our operating results and financial condition.


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We are subject to risks related to product defects or the unintended use or security breaches of our products, which could result in product recalls or epidemic failures and could subject us to warranty claims in excess of our warranty provisions or which are greater than anticipated.anticipated, litigation or indemnification claims.

We warrant the majority of our products for periods of one to five years. We test our products in our manufacturing facilities through a variety of means. However, our testing may fail to reveal defects in our products that may not become apparent until after the products have been sold into the market. In addition, our products may be used in a manner that is not intended or anticipated by us, resulting in potential liability. Accordingly, there is a risk that product defects will occur, which could require a product recall. Product recalls can be expensive to implement. As part of a product recall, we may be required or choose to replace the defective product. Moreover, there is a risk that product defects may trigger an epidemic failure clause in a customer agreement. If an epidemic failure occurs, we may be required to replace or refund the value of the defective product and to cover certain other costs associated with the consequences of the epidemic failure. In addition, a product recalldefects, product recalls or epidemic failurefailures may cause damage to our reputation or customer relationships, and may cause us to loselost revenue, indemnification for a recall of our customers’ products, warranty claims, litigation or loss of market share with our customers, including our OEM and ODMoriginal design manufacturers (“ODM”) customers. Our business liability insurance may be inadequate or future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could adversely impact our operating results and financial condition.

Our standard warranties contain limits on damages and exclusions of liability for consequential damages and for misuse, improper installation, alteration, accident or mishandling while in the possession of someone other than us. We record an accrual for estimated warranty costs at the time revenue is recognized. We may incur additional expenses if our warranty provision do not reflect the actual cost of resolving issues related to defects in our products, whether as a result of a product recall, epidemic failure or otherwise. If these additional expenses are significant, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Certain of our products contain encryption or security algorithms to protect third party content and user-generated data stored on our products. To the extent our products are hacked or the encryption schemes are compromised or breached, this could harm our business by hurting our reputation, requiring us to employ additional resources to fix the errors or defects and expose us to litigation and indemnification claims.

In addition, third-party components or applications that we incorporate or use in our products may contain defects in design or manufacturing that could unexpectedly result in epidemic failures and subject us to liability.

We rely substantially on our business ventures and strategic partnerships with Toshiba for the supply of NAND flash memory, which subjects us to risks and uncertainties that could harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are dependent on Flash Ventures and other strategic relationships with Toshiba for our NAND flash memory supply, and therefore our business, financial condition and operating results, and our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from the Merger, will be dependent on the success of Flash Ventures and other strategic relationships with Toshiba.


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A majority of our NAND flash memory is supplied by Flash Ventures, which limits our ability to respond to demand and supply changes. A failure to accurately forecast demand could cause us to over-invest or under-invest in technology transitions or the expansion of captive memory capacity in Flash Ventures. Over-investment could result in excess supply, which could cause significant decreases in our product prices, significant excess, obsolete or lower of cost or net realizable value inventory write-downs or under-utilization charges, and the potential impairment of our investments in Flash Ventures. On the other hand, if we or Toshiba under-invest in captive memory capacity or technology transitions, if we grow capacity more slowly than the rest of the industry, if our technology transitions do not occur on the timeline that we expect, if we encounter unanticipated difficulties in implementing these transitions, or if we implement technology transitions more slowly than our competitors, we may not have enough captive supply of the right type of memory or at all to meet demand on a timely and cost effective basis and we may lose opportunities for revenue, gross margin and share as a result. If our NAND memory supply is limited, we may make strategic decisions with respect to the allocation of our supply among our products and customers, and these strategic allocation decisions may result in less favorable gross margin in the short term or damage certain customer relationships. Growth of our NAND flash memory bit supply at a slower rate than the overall industry for an extended period of time would result in lowering our share which could limit our future opportunities and harm our financial results. We are also contractually obligated to pay for 50% of the fixed costs of Flash Ventures regardless of whether we purchase any wafers from Flash Ventures. Furthermore, purchase orders placed with Flash Ventures and under the foundry arrangements with Toshiba for up to three months are binding and cannot be canceled. Therefore, once our purchase decisions have been made, our production costs for flash memory are fixed, and we may be unable to reduce costs to match any subsequent declines in pricing or demand, which would harm our gross margin. Our limited ability to react to fluctuations in flash memory supply and demand makes our financial results particularly susceptible to variations from our forecasts and expectations.

In addition, we partner with Toshiba on the development of NAND flash technology, including the next technology transitions of NAND flash, as well as other non-volatile memory technology.

These ventures and strategic partnerships are subject to various risks that could harm the value of our investments, our revenue and costs, our future rate of spending, our technology plans and our future growth opportunities. Under the terms of our venture agreements with Toshiba, which govern the operations of Flash Ventures, we have limited power to unilaterally direct most of the activities that most significantly impact Flash Ventures’ performance. Although SanDisk and Toshiba have a long history of aligning on important manufacturing and technology development decisions, the integration of SanDisk into our organization could complicate the process of reaching agreement with Toshiba in a timely and favorable manner. We may not always agree with Toshiba on our joint R&D roadmap or expansions or conversions of production capacity. A change in the management or control of Toshiba’s storage business could lead to delays in decision-making or changes in strategic direction that could also adversely impact Flash Ventures. In addition, Toshiba’s financial position or shift in strategic priorities could adversely impact our business.

Flash Ventures requires significant investments by both Toshiba and us for technology transitions, including the transition to 3D NAND, and capacity expansions. In March 2016, Toshiba announced plans to construct a new wafer fab in Yokkaichi, Japan, to provide additional cleanroom space for expanded 3D NAND production. Although we intend to extend the joint venture partnership with Toshiba to the new wafer fab, there is no certainty as to when, and on what terms, we will participate with Toshiba in any investment in, or use of, the new wafer fab, if at all. Failure to extend the joint venture partnership or failure to continue to secure and invest in additional cleanroom space to support the continued 3D NAND transition could adversely impact our supply of captive NAND flash memory and financial results. If Toshiba does not or we do not provide sufficient resources or have adequate access to credit, investments in Flash Ventures could be delayed or reduced. In addition, in the event that lease financings for Flash Ventures are not available on favorable terms or at all, more cash would be required to fund these investments.


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Our strategic relationships subject us to risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have entered into strategic relationships with various partners for future product development, sales growth and the supply of technologies, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing, including our relationships with Toshiba for NAND flash memory supply.  In addition, in the first quarter of 2017, our joint venture with Unisplendour Corporation Limited (“Unis”) to market and sell our current data center storage systems in China and to develop data storage systems for the Chinese market in the future became operational; the joint venture is 49% owned by us and 51% owned by Unis and its subsidiary, Unissoft (Wuxi) Group Co. Ltd.  Please see the risk factor entitled “Because we are dependent on a limited number of qualified suppliers for components, sub-assemblies, testing, equipment, consumables, raw materials, and logistics, a supplier’s inability, unwillingness, or failure to support us in a timely manner with goods or services at a quality level and cost acceptable to us can adversely affect our margins, revenues and operating results,” for a further description of the risks associated with our reliance on external suppliers. These strategic relationships are subject to various risks that could adversely affect the value of our investments and our results of operations and financial condition. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

our interests could diverge from our partners’ interests or we may not agree with co-venturers on ongoing activities, technology transitions or on the amount, timing or nature of further investments in the relationship;

we may experience difficulties and delays in ramping production at, and transferring technology to, our business ventures;

our control over the operations of our business ventures is limited;

due to financial constraints, our co-venturers may be unable to meet their commitments to us or may pose credit risks for our transactions with them;

due to differing business models, financial constraints or long-term business goals, our partners may decide not to join us in funding capital investment by our business ventures, which may result in higher levels of cash expenditures by us or prevent us from proceeding in the investment;

we may lose the rights to technology or products being developed by the strategic relationship, including if any of our co-venturers is acquired by another company, files for bankruptcy or experiences financial or other losses;

a bankruptcy event involving a co-venturer could result in the early termination or adverse modification of the business venture or agreements governing the business venture;

we may experience difficulties or delays in collecting amounts due to us from our co-venturers;

the terms of our arrangements may turn out to be unfavorable; and

changes in tax, legal or regulatory requirements may necessitate changes in the agreements with our co-venturers.

If our strategic relationships are unsuccessful or there are unanticipated changes in, or termination of, our strategic relationships, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

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Because we are dependent on a limited number of qualified suppliers for components, sub-assemblies, testing, equipment, consumables, raw materials, and logistics, a supplier’s inability, unwillingness, or failure to support us in a timely manner with goods or services at a quality level and cost acceptable to us can adversely affect our margins, revenues and operating results.

We depend on an external supply base for technologies, software (including firmware), controller, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing. We also depend on suppliers for a portion of our wafer testing, chip assembly, product assembly and product testing, and on service suppliers for providing technical support for our products. In addition, we use logistics partners to manage our just-in-time hubs, distribution centers and freight from suppliers to our factories and from our factories to our customers throughout the world. Many of thesethe components and much of thisthe equipment we acquire must be specifically designed to be compatible for use in our products or for developing and manufacturing our future products, and are only available from a limited number of suppliers, some of whom are our sole-source suppliers. We are therefore dependent on these suppliers to be able and willing to dedicate adequate engineering resources to develop components that can be successfully integrated into our products, technology and equipment that can be used to develop and manufacture our next-generation products efficiently. Our supply base has experienced industry consolidation. Where we rely on a limited number of suppliers or a single supplier, the risk of supplier loss due to industry consolidation is enhanced. Any disruption in our supply chain could reduce our revenue and adversely impact our financial results.

From time to time, our suppliers have experienced difficulty meeting our requirements. If we are unable to purchase sufficient quantities from our current suppliers or qualify and engage additional suppliers, we may not be able to meet demand for our products. We do not have long-term contracts with some of our existing suppliers, nor do we always have guaranteed manufacturing capacity with our suppliers and, therefore, we cannot guarantee that they will devote sufficient resources or capacity to manufacturing our products. We are not able to directly control product delivery schedules or quality assurance. Furthermore, we manufacture on a turnkey basis with some of our suppliers. In these arrangements, we do not have visibility and control of our suppliers’ inventories of purchased parts necessary to build our products or of the progress of our products through their assembly line. Any significant problems that occur at our suppliers, or their failure to perform at the level we expect, could lead to product shortages or quality assurance problems, either of which would harm our operating results and financial condition. In addition, if we are unable to purchase sufficient quantities from our current suppliers, we may not be able to engage alternative suppliers who are able or willing to provide goods or services in sufficient quantities or at a cost acceptable to us.

Our products require controllers and firmware. We rely on a limited number of third-party vendors to develop or supply controllers for many of our high-value solutions. Any delays or cost increases in developing or sourcing controllers or firmware, or incompatibility or quality issues relating to the controllers or firmware in our products, could harm our financial results as well as business relationships with our customers.

A majority of our flash memory is currently supplied by Flash Ventures and, to a much lesser extent, by third-party silicon suppliers. Any disruption or shortage in supply of flash memory from our captive or non-captive sources would harm our operating results and financial condition. Many of the risks that affect us also affect our supply base and Flash Ventures, including, but not limited to, having single site manufacturing locations and other facilities based in high risk regions of the world (for example, Flash Ventures is located in Yokkaichi, Japan), natural disasters, power shortages, macro and local economic conditions, shortages of commodity

materials, proper management of technology transitions, natural disasters, geo-political risks, employee strikes and other labor actions, compliance with legal requirements, financial instability and exposure to intellectual property (“IP”) and other litigation, including an injunction or other action that could delay shipping. If any of these risks were to affect our suppliers or Flash Ventures, we could also be adversely affected, especially in the case of products, components or services that are single-sourced. For example, if suppliers are facing increased costs due to the above risks, they may require us to enter into long-term volume agreements to shift the burden of fixed costs to us. Further, we work closely with many of our suppliers and strategic partners to develop new technologies and, as a result, we may become subject to litigation from our suppliers, strategic partners or third parties.


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Without a capable and financially stable supply base that has established appropriate relationships within the supply chain and has implemented business processes, strategies and risk management safeguards, we would be unable to develop our products, manufacture them in high volumes, and distribute them to our customers to execute our business plans effectively. As PC demand declines, competition increases from NAND and other consumer devices, the total available market for HDDs decreases and costs increase, and these suppliers may reevaluate their business models. Some of our suppliers have also experienced a decline in financial performance. Our suppliers may be acquired by our competitors, consolidate, or decide to exit the industry, redirect their investments and increase costs to us, each of which may have an adverse effect on our business and operations. In addition, moving to new technologies may require us to align to, and build, a new supply base, such as NAND flash. In the case of NAND suppliers, many of which are involved in developing storage products such as SSD that, in some cases, compete with our products.base. Our success in these new product areas may be dependent on our ability and their willingness to develop close relationships with new suppliers, with preferential agreements. Where this cannot be done, our business and operations may be adversely affected.

In addition to an external supply base, we also rely on an internal supply chain of heads, media and media substrate.substrate, and we rely on our business ventures with Toshiba for the supply of NAND flash memory. Please see the risk factors entitled, “A fundamental change in storage technologies and standards could result in significant increases in our costs and could put us at a competitive disadvantage,” and “If we do not properly manage technology transitions, our competitiveness and operating results may be negatively affected,” and “We rely substantially on our business ventures and strategic partnerships with Toshiba for the supply of NAND flash memory, which subjects us to risks and uncertainties that could harm our business, financial condition and operating results” for a review of some of the risks related to our internal supply.these supplies.

Price volatility, shortages of critical materials or components, or use by other industries of materials and components used in the storage industry, may negatively impact our operating results.

Increases in the cost for certain critical materials and components and oil may increase our costs of manufacturing and transporting our products and key components and may result in lower operating margins if we are unable to pass these increased costs on to our customers. Shortages of critical components such as DRAM and NAND flash, or materials such as glass substrates, stainless steel, aluminum, nickel, neodymium, ruthenium, platinum or cerium, may increase our costs and may result in lower operating margins if we are unable to find ways to mitigate these increased costs. We or our suppliers acquire certain precious metals and rare earth metals like ruthenium, platinum, neodymium and cerium, which are critical to the manufacture of components in our products from a number of countries, including the People’s Republic of China. The government of China or any other nation may impose regulations, quotas or embargoes upon these metals that would restrict the worldwide supply of such metals or increase their cost, both of which could negatively impact our operating results until alternative suppliers are sourced. Furthermore, if other high volume industries increase their demand for materials or components used in our products, our costs may further increase, which could have an adverse effect on our operating margins. In addition, shortages in other components and materials used in our customers’ products could result in a decrease in demand for our products, which would negatively impact our operating results.

Contractual commitments with component suppliers may result in us paying increased charges and cash advances for such components or may cause us to have inadequate or excess component inventory.

To reduce the risk of component shortages, we attempt to provide significant lead times when buying components, which may subject us to cancellation charges if we cancel orders as a result of technology transitions or changes in our component needs. In addition, we may from time to time enter into contractual commitments with component suppliers in an effort to increase and stabilize the supply of those components and enable us to purchase such components at favorable prices. Some of these commitments may require us to buy a substantial number of components from the supplier or make significant cash advances to the supplier; however, these commitments may not result in a satisfactory increase or stabilization of the supply of such components. Furthermore, as a result of uncertain global economic conditions, our ability to forecast our requirements for these components has become increasingly difficult, therefore increasing the risk that our contractual commitments may not meet our actual supply requirements, which could cause us to have inadequate or excess component inventory and adversely affect our operating results and increase our operating costs.


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If we do not properly manage technology transitions, our competitiveness and operating results may be negatively affected.

The storage markets in which we offer our products continuously undergo technology transitions that we must anticipate and adapt our products to address in a timely manner. If we fail to implement new technologies successfully, or if we are slower than our competitors at implementing new technologies, we may not be able to competitively offer products that our customers desire or keep pace with ASP reduction, which could harm our operating results. In addition, if our customers choose to delay transition to new technologies, if demand for the products that we develop is lower than expected or if the supporting technologies to implement these new technologies are not available, we may be unable to achieve the cost structure required to support our profit objectives or may be unable to grow or maintain our market position.

Our successful development of 3D NAND and other non-volatile memory technologies, such as 3D resistive random-access memory (“ReRAM”), and transitioning our customers to these technologies in a timely and effective manner are crucial to continuing the cost reductions necessary to maintain adequate gross margin. In transitioning our 2D NAND manufacturing capacity to 3D NAND technology, we could experience delays or other challenges in the production ramp, qualification of wafers, shipment of samples to customers or customer approval process. 3D NAND and any new manufacturing node may be more susceptible to manufacturing yield issues. Manufacturing yield issues may not be identified during the development or production process or solved until an actual product is manufactured and tested, further increasing our costs. If our technology transitions, including the production ramp of 3D NAND technology, take longer, are more costly to complete than anticipated, or do not improve manufacturing yield or other manufacturing efficiencies, our flash memory costs may not remain competitive with other NAND flash memory producers or may not fall commensurate with declines in the price of NAND flash memory, which would harm revenues, our gross margin and operating results.

Many companies, including some of our competitors, have developed or are attempting to develop alternative non-volatile technologies. Successful broad-based commercialization of one or more competing technologies, as well as differing strategies and timing with respect to the transition from 2D NAND to 3D NAND, could reduce the competitiveness and future revenue and profitability of our 2D NAND and 3D NAND flash technologies, and the potential 3D ReRAM technology that we are developing with our partners. In addition, we generate license and royalty revenue from NAND flash technology, and if NAND flash technology is replaced by a technology where our IP is less relevant, our license and royalty revenue would decrease. Also, we may not have access to alternative technologies that we do not develop internally and we may have to pay royalties in order to access such technologies.

Changes in product life cycles could adversely affect our financial results.

If product life cycles lengthen, we may need to develop new technologies or programs to reduce our costs on any particular product to maintain competitive pricing for that product. Longer product life cycles could also restrict our ability to transition customers to our newer products in a timely manner, or at all, negatively impacting our ability to recoup our

significant research and developmentR&D investments to improve our existing technology and develop new technologies. If product life cycles shorten, it may result in an increase in our overall expenses and a decrease in our gross margins, both of which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, shortening of product life cycles also makes it more difficult to recover the cost of product development before the product becomes obsolete. Our failure to recover the cost of product development in the future could adversely affect our operating results.


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A fundamental change in storage technologies and standards could result in significant increases in our costs and could put us at a competitive disadvantage.

Historically, when the industry experiences a fundamental change in storage technologies or standards, any manufacturer that fails to successfully and timely adjust its designs and processes to accommodate the new technology or standard fails to remain competitive. There are some revolutionary technologies, such as current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance, shingle magnetic recording, heat-assisted magnetic recording, patterned magnetic media and advanced signal processing that, if implemented by a competitor on a commercially viable basis ahead of the industry, could put us at a competitive disadvantage. In addition, many companies, including some of our competitors, have developed or are attempting to develop alternative non-volatile technologies, including non-NAND technologies such as magnetoresistive random-access memory (“RAM”), ReRAM, 3D XPoint, phase change and Memristor, as well as NAND based vertical or stacked 3D memories based on charge trap, floating gate and other cell architecture. In embedded solutions, certain competitors have recently introduced a mobile storage standard referred to as Universal Flash Storage (“UFS”). In the data center market, certain competitors have recently introduced a non-volatile memory express (“NVMe”) product that can be used as a substitute for our peripheral component interconnect express (“PCIe”) solutions. In addition, a provider of processors and non-volatile memory solutions may be developing a new standard to attach ultra-low latency non-volatile memory to its processor memory bus, which it may choose not to license to its competitors, resulting in it being a single source provider of such non-volatile memory solutions. As a result of these shifts in technology shifts,and standards, we could incur substantial costs in developing new technologies, such as recording heads, magnetic media and tools, in adopting new standards or in investing in different capital equipment or manufacturing processes to remain competitive. If we fail to successfully implement these new technologies or standards, or if we are significantly slower than our competitors at implementing new technologies or standards, we may not be able to offer products with capacities and capabilities that our customers desire, which could harm our operating results.

The difficulty of introducing hard drives with higher levels of areal density and the challenges of reducing other costs may impact our ability to achieve historical levels of cost reduction.

Storage capacity of the hard drive, as manufactured by us, is determined by the number of disks and each disk’s areal density. Areal density is a measure of the amount of magnetic bits that can be stored on the recording surface of the disk. Generally, the higher the areal density, the more information can be stored on a single platter. Higher areal densities require existing recording head and magnetic media technology to be improved or new technologies developed to accommodate more data on a single disk. Historically, we have been able to achieve a large percentage of cost reduction through increases in areal density. Increases in areal density mean that the average drive we sell has fewer heads and disks for the same capacity and, therefore, may result in a lower component cost. However, increasing areal density has become more difficult in the storage industry. If we are not able to increase areal density at the same rate as our competitors or at a rate that is expected by our customers, we may be required to include more components in our drives to meet demand without corresponding incremental revenue, which could negatively impact our operating margins and make achieving historical levels of cost reduction difficult or unlikely. Additionally, increases in areal density may require us to make further capital expenditures on items such as new test equipment needed as a result of an increased number of gigabytes per platter. Our inability to achieve cost reductions could adversely affect our operating results.


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Our license and royalty revenue may fluctuate or decline significantly in the future due to license agreement expirations or renewals, declines in sales of the products or use of technology underlying the license and royalty revenue by our licensees, or if licensees fail to perform on a portion or all of their contractual obligations.

If weour existing licensees do not properly manage technology transitions,renew their licenses upon expiration, renew or sign new agreements on less favorable terms, exercise their option to terminate the license or fail to exercise their option to extend the licenses, or we are not successful in signing new licensees in the future, our competitivenesslicense revenue, profitability and cash provided by operating resultsactivities would be harmed and we may incur significant patent litigation costs to enforce our patents against these licensees. As our older patents expire, and the coverage of our newer patents may be negatively affected.
The storage marketsdifferent, it may be more difficult to negotiate or renew favorable license agreement terms or a license agreement at all. Our agreements may require us in certain instances to recognize license revenue related to a particular licensee all in one period instead of over time, which we offercould create additional volatility in our licensing revenue. A portion of our license and royalty revenue is based on sales of product categories as well as the underlying technology, and fluctuations in the sales of those products continuously undergoor technology transitions that we must anticipateadoption rates would also result in fluctuations in the license and adaptroyalty revenue due to us under our products to address in a timely manner.agreements. If our licensees or we fail to implement new technologies successfully, or if we are slower than our competitors at implementing new technologies,perform on contractual obligations, we may notincur costs to enforce or defend the terms of our licenses and there can be able to competitively offer productsno assurance that our enforcement, defense or collection efforts will be effective. If we license new IP from third parties or existing licensees, we may be required to pay license fees, royalty payments or offset existing license revenue. We may enter into agreements with customers, desire, whichsuppliers or partners that could harmlimit our operating results.ability to monetize our IP or could result in us being required to provide IP indemnification to our customers, suppliers or partners. In addition, we may be subject to disputes, claims or other disagreements on the timing, amount or collection of royalties or license payments under our license agreements.

If we do not properly manage new product development, our competitiveness and operating results may be negatively affected.
As advances
Our success depends in computer hardwarepart on our ability to develop and software are made,introduce new products in a timely manner in order to keep pace with technology advancements. Advances in semiconductor technology have resulted in other emerging technologies that can be competitive with traditional storage technologies. We may be unsuccessful in anticipating and developing new and improved products for the client, enterprise and other storage markets in response to competing technologies. If our customers have demandedhard drive, solid state products and our storage solutions products fail to offer a superior value proposition to alternative storage products, we will be at a competitive disadvantage and our business will suffer. In some cases, our customers’ demand for a more diversified portfolio of products with new and additional features. In some cases, this demand results in investments in new products for a particular market that do not necessarily expand overall market opportunity, which may negatively affect our operating results. As we introduce new products, standards or technologies, it can take time for these new standards or technologies to be adopted, for consumers to accept and transition to these new standards or technologies and for significant sales to be generated, if at all. Failure of consumers or enterprises to adopt our new products, standards or technologies could harm our results of operations as we fail to reap the benefits of our investments.

In addition, the success of our new product introductions depends on a number of other factors, including:

difficulties faced in manufacturing ramp;

implementing at an acceptable cost product features expected by our customers;

market acceptance/qualification;

effective management of inventory levels in line with anticipated product demand;

quality problems or other defects in the early stages of new product introduction and problems with compatibility between our products and those of our customers that were not anticipated in the design of those products; and

our ability to increase our software development capability.capability; and

the effectiveness of our go-to-market capability in selling these new products.


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In particular, as part of our growth strategy, we have made significant investments in active archive systems, which are designed to enable organizations to rapidly access massive long-term data stores. For example, our acquisition of Amplidata NV in March 2015 was partially driven by our strategy to expand in this area. We expect to continue to make significant investments in active archive systems. Our active archive systems may fail to gain market acceptance, or the market for active archive systems may not grow as we anticipate.

We have also seen, and anticipate continuing to see, an increase in customers requesting that we develop products, including software associated with our products, that incorporate open source software elements and operate in an open source environment. Adapting to this demand may cause product delays, placing us at a competitive disadvantage. Open source products could also reduce our capability for product differentiation or innovation and our affected products could be diminished to commodity status, which we expect would place increased downward pressure on our margins. If we fail to successfully anticipate and manage issues associated with our product development generally, our business may suffer.
If we fail to develop and introduce new products that are competitive against alternative storage technologies, our business may suffer.
Our success depends in part on our ability to develop and introduce new products in a timely manner in order to keep pace with technology advancements. Newer storage technologies have successfully served mobility markets for products that cannot be serviced using traditional storage technologies. Advances in semiconductor technology have resulted in other emerging technologies that can be competitive with traditional storage technologies. For example, SSDs have significantly increased their penetration in notebook PCs in recent years. We believe that SSDs will increasingly replace HDDs in notebook and desktop PCs, and we currently do not offer client SSD solutions. We also expect that SSD penetration will increase in enterprise areas requiring high performance needs in advanced digital computing. We may be unsuccessful in anticipating and developing new and improved products for the client, enterprise and other storage markets in response to competing technologies. If our hard drive and solid state products fail to offer a superior value proposition to alternative storage products, we will be at a competitive disadvantage and our business will suffer.
Our operations, and those of certain of our suppliers and customers, are concentrated in large, purpose-built facilities, subjecting us to substantial risk of damage or loss if operations at any of these facilities are disrupted.

As a result of our cost structure and strategy of vertical integration, we conduct our operations at large, high volume, purpose-built facilities in California and throughout Asia. The concentration of Flash Ventures in Yokkaichi, Japan, magnifies the risks of supply disruption. The facilities of many of our customers, our suppliers and our customers’ suppliers are also concentrated in certain geographic locations throughout Asia and elsewhere. A localized health risk affecting our employees at these facilities or the staff of our or our customers’ other suppliers, such as the spread of a pandemic influenza, could impair the total volume of our products that we are able to manufacture or sell, which would result in substantial harm to our operating results. Similarly, a fire, flood, earthquake, tsunami or other natural disaster, condition or event such as political instability, civil unrest or a power outage that adversely affects any of these facilities, including access to or from these facilities by employees or logistics operators, would significantly affect our ability to manufacture or sell our products, which would result in a substantial loss of sales and revenue and a substantial harm to our operating results. For example, prior to the 2011 flooding in Thailand, all of WD'sour internal slider capacity and 60% of WD'sour hard drive manufacturing capacity was in Thailand. As a result of the flooding in Thailand, WD'sour facilities were inundated and temporarily shut down. During that period, WD'sour ability to manufacture hard drives was significantly constrained, adversely affecting WD'sour business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the concentration of our manufacturing sites could exacerbate the negative impacts resulting from localized labor unrest or other employment issues. A significant event that impacts any of our manufacturing sites, or the sites of our customers or suppliers, could adversely affect our ability to manufacture or sell our products, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could suffer.

We may incur losses beyond the limits of, or outside the scope of, the coverage of our insurance policies. There can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to maintain existing insurance coverage or that premiums will not increase substantially. Due to market availability, pricing or other reasons, we may elect not to purchase insurance coverage or to purchase only limited coverage. We maintain limited insurance coverage and, in some cases, no coverage at all, for natural disasters and environmental damages, as these types of insurance are sometimes not available or available only at a prohibitive cost. We depend upon Toshiba to obtain and maintain sufficient property, business interruption and other insurance for Flash Ventures. If Toshiba fails to do so, we could suffer significant unreimbursable losses, and such failure could also cause Flash Ventures to breach various financing covenants.


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Manufacturing, marketing and selling our products globally subjects us to numerous risks.

Currently, a large portion of our revenue is derived from our international operations, and many of our products and components are produced overseas. Our revenue and future growth is significantly dependent on the growth of international markets, and we may face difficulties in entering or maintaining international sales markets. We are subject to risks associated with our global manufacturing operations and global marketing and sales efforts, as well as risks associated with our utilization of and reliance on contract manufacturers, including:

obtaining requisite governmental permits and approvals;approvals, compliance with foreign laws and regulations, changes in foreign laws and regulations;

the need to comply with regulations on international business, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010, the anti-bribery laws of other countries and rules regarding conflict minerals;

currency exchange rate fluctuations or restrictions;

political and economic instability, civil unrest and civil unrest;natural disasters;

limited transportation availability, delays, and extended time required for shipping, which risks may be compounded in periods of price declines;

higher freight rates;

labor challenges, including difficulties finding and retaining talent or responding to labor disputes or disruptions;

trade restrictions or higher tariffs;tariffs and fees;

import and export restrictions and license and certification requirements, including on encryption technology, and complex customs regulations;

copyright levies or similar fees or taxes imposed in European and other countries;

exchange, currency and tax controls and reallocations;

increasing labor and overhead costs;

weaker protection of IP rights;

difficulties in managing international operations, including appropriate internal controls; and

loss or non-renewal of favorable tax treatment under agreements or treaties with foreign tax authorities.

As a result of these risks, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be adversely affected. Some of these risks, such as trade restrictions, higher tariffs and fees, import and export restrictions or loss of favorable tax treatment under agreements or treaties with foreign tax authorities, could increase as a result of changes to policies, rules and regulations which may be proposed or implemented by the new U.S. President and his administration.


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Terrorist attacks may adversely affect our business and operating results.

Recent terrorist incidents inaround the U.S. and overseasworld and the continued threat of terrorist activity and other acts of war or hostility have created uncertainty in the financial and insurance markets and have significantly increased the political, economic and social instability in some of the geographic areas in which we, our suppliers or our customers operate. Additionally, it is uncertain what impact the reactions to such acts by various governmental agencies and security regulators worldwide will have on shipping costs. Acts of terrorism, either domestically or abroad, could create further uncertainties and instability. To the extent this results in disruption or delays of our manufacturing capabilities, R&D activities (including our operations in Israel) or shipments of our products, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected. Any of these events could also increase volatility in the U.S. and world financial markets, which could have a negative effect on our stock price and may limit the capital resources available to us and our customers or suppliers, or adversely affect consumer confidence.

Sudden disruptions to the availability of air transportation, or ocean or land freight lanes, could have an impact on our operations.

We generally ship our products to our customers, and receive shipments from our suppliers, via air, ocean or land freight. The sudden unavailability or disruption of air transportation, cargo operations or ocean, rail or truck freight lanes caused by, among other things, labor difficulties or disputes, severe weather patterns or other natural disasters, or political instability or civil unrest, could impact our operating results by impairing our ability to timely and efficiently receive shipments from our suppliers or deliver our products.

If our technology infrastructure, systems or products are compromised, damaged or interrupted by cyber attacks, data security breaches, other security problems, security vulnerabilities or design defects, or sustain system failures, our operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We experience cyber attacks of varying degrees on our technology infrastructure and systems and, as a result, unauthorized parties have obtained in the past, and may in the future obtain, access to our computer systems and networks. The technology infrastructure and systems of our suppliers, vendors and partners may also experience such attacks. Cyber attacks can include computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, worms, and other malicious software programs or other attacks, covert introduction of malware to computers and networks, impersonation of authorized users, and efforts to discover and exploit any security vulnerabilities or security weaknesses, as well as intentional or unintentional acts by employees or other insiders with access privileges, intentional acts of vandalism by third parties and sabotage. We believe cyber attack attempts are increasing in number and that cyber attackers are developing increasingly sophisticated systems and means to not only attack systems, but also to evade detection or to obscure their activities. Our products are also targets for cyber attacks. While some of our products contain encryption or security algorithms to protect third-party content or user-generated data stored on our products, these products could still be hacked or the encryption schemes could be compromised, breached, or circumvented by motivated and sophisticated attackers. We have agreed with certain customers and strategic partners, including Toshiba, to undertake certain commitments to promote information security, and we may be liable to Toshiba or such other parties if we fail to meet our cyber security commitments.

In addition, our technology infrastructure and systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, power loss and telecommunications failures. Further, our products contain sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that may contain security problems, security vulnerabilities, or defects in design or manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that could interfere with the intended operation of our products.

If efforts to breach our infrastructure, systems or products are successful or we are unable to protect against these risks, we could suffer interruptions, delays, or cessation of operations of our systems, and loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information, intellectual property,IP, or sensitive or personal information. Breaches of our infrastructure, systems or products could also cause our customers and other affected third parties to suffer loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information, intellectual property,IP, or sensitive or personal information, and could harm our relationships with customers and other third parties. As a result, we could experience additional costs, indemnification claims, litigation, and damage to our brand and reputation. All of these consequences could harm our reputation and our business and materially and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.
We are subject to laws, rules, and regulations in the U.S. and other countries relating to the collection, use, sharing, and security of third-party data including personal data, and our failure to comply with these laws, rules and regulations could subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others and cause us to incur penalties, significant legal liability, or loss of customers, loss of revenue, and reputational harm.

We are subject to laws, rules, and regulations in the U.S. and other countries relating to the collection, use, and securityTable of third-party data including data that relates to or identifies an individual person. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between us and our subsidiaries, and among us, our subsidiaries and other parties with which we have commercial relations. Our possession and use of third-party data including personal data in conducting our business subjects us to legal and regulatory burdens that may require us to notify vendors, customers or employees or other parties with which we have commercial relations of a data security breach and to respond to regulatory inquiries and to enforcement proceedings. Global privacy and data protection legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and evolving, and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Compliance requirements and even our inadvertent failure to comply with applicable laws may cause us to incur substantial costs, subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others, and cause us to incur penalties or other significant legal liability, or lead us to change our business practices.Contents

If we fail to identify, manage, complete and integrate acquisitions, investment opportunities or other significant transactions, which are a key part of our growth strategy, it may adversely affect our future results.

We seek to be an industry-leading developer, manufacturer and provider of innovative storage solutions, balancing our core hard drive and flash memory business with growing investments in newer areas that we believe will provide us with higher growth opportunities. Acquisitions of, investment opportunities in, or other significant transactions with companies that are complementary to our business are a key part of our overall business strategy. For example, in October 2015, we entered into an agreement to merge with SanDisk and we have completed the acquisitions of SanDisk (in May 2016), Amplidata NV (in March 2015), Virident Systems, Inc. (in October 2013) and sTec, Inc. (in September 2013). In order to pursue this part of our growth strategy successfully, we must continue to identify attractive acquisition or investment opportunities, successfully complete the transactions, some of which may be large and complex, and manage post-closing issues such as integration of the acquired company or employees. We may not be able to continue to identify or complete appealing acquisition or investment opportunities given the intense competition for these transactions. We are also subject to certain covenants in our debt agreements which place limits on our ability to complete acquisitions and investments. Even if we identify and complete suitable corporate transactions, we may not be able to successfully address any integration challenges in a timely manner, or at all. Failing to successfully integrate or realign our business to take advantage of efficiencies or reduce redundancies of an acquisition may result in not realizing all or any of the anticipated benefits of the acquisition. In addition, failing to achieve the financial model projections for an acquisition may result in the incurrence of impairment charges and other expenses, both of which could adversely impact our results of operations or financial condition. Acquisitions and investments may also result in the issuance of equity securities that may be dilutive to our shareholders and the issuance of additional indebtedness which would put additional pressure on liquidity. Furthermore, we may agree to provide continuing service obligations or enter into other agreements in order to obtain certain regulatory approvals of our corporate transactions, and failure to satisfy these additional obligations could result in our failing to obtain regulatory approvals or the imposition of additional obligations on us, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Please also see the section above titled “Risks Related to the Planned SanDisk Merger and Integration of Our HGST Acquisition.
Our strategic relationships subject us to risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have entered into strategic relationships with various partners to reduce the risk associated with relying on external suppliers for technologies, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing. Please see the risk factor entitled “Because we are dependent on a limited number of qualified suppliers for components, sub-assemblies, equipment, consumables, raw materials, and logistics, a supplier’s inability, unwillingness, or failure to support us in a timely manner with goods or services at a quality level and cost acceptable to us can adversely affect our margins, revenues and operating results,” for a further description of the risks associated with our reliance on external suppliers. We have also entered into a strategic relationship with Unis to accelerate sales growth of our data center storage systems in China. These strategic relationships are subject to various risks that could adversely affect the value of our investments and our results of operations. These risks include the following:
our interests could diverge from our partners’ interests or we may not be able to agree with co-venturers on ongoing activities, or on the amount, timing or nature of further investments in the relationship;
we may experience difficulties and delays in ramping production at, and transferring technology to, such ventures;
our control over the operations of our ventures is limited;
due to financial constraints, our co-venturers may be unable to meet their commitments to us or may pose credit risks for our transactions with them;
due to differing business models or long-term business goals, our partners may decide not to join us in funding capital investment by our ventures, which may result in higher levels of cash expenditures by us;

we may lose the rights to technology or products being developed by the strategic relationship, including if our partner is acquired by another company, files for bankruptcy or experiences financial or other losses;
we may experience difficulties or delays in collecting amounts due to us from our co-venturers;
the terms of our arrangements may turn out to be unfavorable; and
changes in tax, legal or regulatory requirements may necessitate changes in the agreements with our co-venturers.
If our strategic relationships are unsuccessful or there are unanticipated changes in, or termination of, our strategic relationships, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be adversely affected.
The loss of our key executive management, staff and skilled employees, the inability to hire and integrate new employees or decisions to realign our business could negatively impact our business prospects.

Our success depends upon the continued contributions of our key management, staff and skilled employees, many of whom would be extremely difficult to replace. Global competition for skilled employees in the data storage industry is intense and, as we attempt to move to a position of technology leadership in the storage industry, our business success becomes increasingly dependent on our ability to retain our key staff and skilled employees, to attract, integrate and retain new skilled employees, including employees from acquisitions, and to make decisions to realign our business to take advantage of efficiencies or reduce redundancies. Volatility or lack of positive performance in our stock price and the overall markets may adversely affect our ability to retain key staff or skilled employees who have received equity compensation. Additionally, because a substantial portion of our key employees’ compensation is placed “at risk” and linked to the performance of our business, when our operating results are negatively impacted, we are at a competitive disadvantage for retaining and hiring key management, staff and skilled employees versus other companies that pay a relatively higher fixed salary. If we lose our existing key management, staff or skilled employees, or are unable to hire and integrate new key management, staff or skilled employees, or if we fail to implement succession plans for our key management or staff, our operating results would likely be harmed. Furthermore, if we do not realize the anticipated benefits of our intended realignment after we make decisions regarding our personnel and implement our realignment plans, our operating results could be adversely affected.

We and certain of our officers are at times involved in litigation, including IP, antitrust and securities litigation, which may be costly, may divert the efforts of our key personnel and could result in adverse court rulings, which could materially harm our business.

We are involved in litigation, including cases involving our IP rights and those of others, antitrust and commercial matters, putative securities class action suits and other actions. We are the plaintiff in some of these actions and the defendant in others. Some of the actions seek injunctive relief, including injunctions against the sale of our products and substantial monetary damages, which if granted or awarded, could materially harm our business, financial condition and operating results.


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Litigation is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. If we receive an adverse judgment in any litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages and cease certain practices or activities, including the manufacture, use and sale of products. With or without merit, litigation can be complex, can extend for a protracted period of time, can be very expensive and the expense can be unpredictable. Litigation initiated by us could also result in counter-claims against us, which could increase the costs associated with the litigation and result in our payment of damages or other judgments against us. In addition, litigation, and any related publicity, may divert the efforts and attention of some of our key personnel. Litigation may also harm the market prices of our securities.

We may be obligated to indemnify our current or former directors or employees, or former directors or employees of companies that we have acquired, in connection with litigation or regulatory investigations. These liabilities could be substantial and may include, among other things: the costs of defending lawsuits against these individuals; the cost of defending shareholder derivative suits; the cost of governmental, law enforcement or regulatory investigations; civil or criminal fines and penalties; legal and other expenses; and expenses associated with the remedial measures, if any, which may be imposed.

We are subject to laws, rules, and regulations in the U.S. and other countries relating to the collection, use, sharing, and security of third-party data including personal data, and our failure to comply with these laws, rules and regulations could subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others and cause us to incur penalties, significant legal liability, or loss of customers, loss of revenue, and reputational harm.

We are subject to laws, rules, and regulations in the U.S. and other countries relating to the collection, use, and security of third-party data including data that relates to or identifies an individual person. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between us and our subsidiaries, and among us, our subsidiaries and other parties with which we have commercial relations. Our possession and use of third-party data, including personal data and employee data in conducting our business subjects us to legal and regulatory burdens that may require us to notify vendors, customers or employees or other parties with which we have commercial relations of a data security breach and to respond to regulatory inquiries and to enforcement proceedings. Global privacy and data protection legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and evolving, and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Compliance requirements and even our inadvertent failure to comply with applicable laws may cause us to incur substantial costs, subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others, and cause us to incur penalties or other significant legal liability, or lead us to change our business practices.

The nature of our industry and its reliance on intellectual propertyIP and other proprietary information subjects us and our suppliers, customers and customerspartners to the risk of significant litigation.

The data storage industry has been characterized by significant litigation. This includes litigation relating to patent and other intellectual propertyIP rights, product liability claims and other types of litigation. Intellectual propertyWe have historically been involved in frequent disputes regarding patent and other IP rights, and we have in the past received, and we may in the future receive, communications from third parties asserting that certain of our products, processes or technologies infringe upon their patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights or other IP rights. We may also receive claims of potential infringement if we attempt to license IP to others. IP risks increase when we enter into new markets where we have little or no intellectual propertyIP protection as a defense against litigation. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of IP litigation increase the IP risks we face. Litigation can be expensive, lengthy and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of litigation are inherently uncertain and may result in adverse rulings or decisions. We may be subject to injunctions, enter into settlements or be subject to judgments that may, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.
We evaluate notices

Table of alleged patent infringement and notices of patents from patent holders thatContents

If we receive from time to time. Ifincorporate third-party technology into our products or if claims or actions are asserted against us for alleged infringement of the IP of others, we may be required to obtain a license or cross-license, modify our existing technology or design a new non-infringing technology. Such licenses or design modifications can be extremely costly. In addition,We evaluate notices of alleged patent infringement and notices of patents from patent holders that we receive from time to time. We may decide to settle a claim or action against us, which settlement could be costly. We may also be liable for any past infringement. If there is an adverse ruling against us in an infringement lawsuit, an injunction could be issued barring production or sale of any infringing product. It could also result in a damage award equal to a reasonable royalty or lost profits or, if there is a finding of willful infringement, treble damages. Any of these results would increase our costs and harm our operating results. In addition, our suppliers, customers and customerspartners are subject to similar risks of litigation, and a material, adverse ruling against a supplier, customer or customerpartner could negatively impact our business.

Moreover, from time to time, we agree to indemnify certain of our suppliers and customers for alleged IP infringement. The scope of such indemnity varies but may include indemnification for direct and consequential damages and expenses, including attorneys’ fees. We may be engaged in litigation as a result of these indemnification obligations. Third party claims for patent infringement are excluded from coverage under our insurance policies. A future obligation to indemnify our customers or suppliers may harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our reliance on intellectual propertyIP and other proprietary information subjects us to the risk that these key ingredients of our business could be copied by competitors.

Our success depends, in significant part, on the proprietary nature of our technology, including non-patentable intellectual propertyIP such as our process technology. We primarily rely on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our proprietary technologies and processes. There can be no assurance that our existing patents will continue to be held valid, if challenged, or that they will have sufficient scope or strength to protect us. It is also possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose, illegally or otherwise, our proprietary technologies and processes, despite our efforts to protect our proprietary technologies and processes. If a competitor is able to reproduce or otherwise capitalize on our technology despite the safeguards we have in place, it may be difficult, expensive or impossible for us to obtain necessary legal protection. There are entities whom we believe may infringe our IP. Enforcement of our rights often requires litigation. If we bring a patent infringement action and are not successful, our competitors would be able to use similar technology to compete with us. Moreover, the defendant in such an action may successfully countersue us for infringement of their patents or assert a counterclaim that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. Also, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our intellectual propertyIP to the same extent as do U.S. laws. In addition to patent protection of intellectual propertyIP rights, we consider elements of our product designs and processes to be proprietary and confidential. We rely upon employee, consultant and vendor non-disclosure agreements and contractual provisions and a system of internal safeguards to protect our proprietary information. However, any of our registered or unregistered intellectual propertyIP rights may be challenged or exploited by others in the industry, which could harm our operating results.

The success of our branded products depends in part on the positive image that consumers have of our brands. We believe the popularity of our brands makes them a target of counterfeiting or imitation, with third parties attempting to pass off counterfeit products as our products. Any occurrence of counterfeiting, imitation or confusion with our brands could adversely affect our reputation and impair the value of our brands, which in turn could negatively impact sales of our branded products, our share and our gross margin, as well as increase our administrative costs related to brand protection and counterfeit detection and prosecution.


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The costs of compliance with state, federal and international legal and regulatory requirements, such as environmental, labor, trade, health, safety, anti-corruption and tax regulations, customers’ standards of corporate citizenship, and industry and coalition standards, such as those established by the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition, could cause an increase in our operating costs.

We are subject to, and may become subject to additional, state, federal and international laws and regulations governing our environmental, labor, trade, health, safety, anti-corruption and tax practices. These laws and regulations, particularly those applicable to our international operations, are or may be complex, extensive and subject to change. We will need to ensure that we and our suppliers and partners timely comply with such laws and regulations, which may result in an increase in our operating costs. Legislation has been, and may in the future be, enacted in locations where we manufacture or sell our products. In addition, climate change and financial reform legislation is a significant topic of discussion and has generated and may continue to generate federal, international or other regulatory responses in the near future. If we or our suppliers or partners fail to timely comply with applicable legislation, our customers may refuse to purchase our products or we may face increased operating costs as a result of taxes, fines or penalties, or legal liability and reputational damage, which would have a materially adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition and operating results.condition.

In connection with our compliance with environmental laws and regulations, as well as our compliance with industry and coalition environmental initiatives, such as those established by the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition, the standards of business conduct required by some of our customers, and our commitment to sound corporate citizenship in all aspects of our business, we could incur substantial compliance and operating costs and be subject to disruptions to our operations and logistics. In addition, if we were found to be in violation of these laws or noncompliant with these initiatives or standards of conduct, we could be subject to governmental fines, liability to our customers and damage to our reputation and corporate brand which could cause our financial condition orand operating results to suffer.

Conflict minerals regulations may cause us to incur additional expenses and could limit the supply and increase the cost of certain components and metals contained in our products.
In August 2012,
We are subject to the SEC adopted rules establishingSEC’s diligence and disclosure requirements regarding the use and source of gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten, commonly referred to as 3TG or conflict minerals, thatwhich are necessary to the functionality or production of products manufactured or contracted to be manufactured by public companies. These rules require us to determine and report annually whether such 3TG originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. These rules could affect our ability to source components that contain 3TG, or 3TG generally, at acceptable prices and could impact the availability of such components or 3TG, since there may be only a limited number of suppliers of “conflict free” 3TG. Our customers, including our OEM customers, may require, and some of our customers have notified us that they require, that our products contain only conflict free 3TG, and our revenues and margins may be harmed if we are unable to meet this requirement at a reasonable price, or at all, or are unable to pass through any increased costs associated with meeting this requirement. Additionally, we may suffer reputational harm with our customers and other stakeholders and challenges from government regulators if our products are not conflict free or if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins of the 3TG contained in our products through the due diligence procedures that we implement. We could incur significant costs to the extent that we are required to make changes to products, processes, or sources of supply due to the foregoing requirements or pressures. To the extent that conflictConflict minerals legislation is adopted by the European Commission,in Europe, Canada or any other jurisdiction, could increase these risks could increase.risks.

Violation of applicable laws, including labor or environmental laws, and certain other practices by our suppliers, customers or customerspartners could harm our business.

We expect our suppliers, customers and customerspartners to operate in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including labor and environmental laws, and to otherwise meet our required standards of conduct. While our internal operating guidelines promote ethical business practices, we do not control our suppliers, or customers, partners or their labor or environmental practices. The violation of labor, environmental or other laws by any of our suppliers or customers,them, or divergence of a supplier’s or customer’stheir business practices from those generally accepted as ethical, could harm our business by:

interrupting or otherwise disrupting the shipment of our product components;

damaging our reputation;


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forcing us to find alternate component sources;

reducing demand for our products (for example, through a consumer boycott); or

exposing us to potential liability for our suppliers’, customers’ or customers’partners’ wrongdoings.

Flash Ventures’ equipment lease agreements contain covenants and other cancellation events, and cancellation of the leases would harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Flash Ventures sells and leases back from a consortium of financial institutions (“lessors”) a portion of its equipment and Flash Ventures has entered into equipment lease agreements, of which we and Toshiba each guarantee half of the total outstanding obligations. As of December 30, 2016, the portion of outstanding Flash Ventures’ lease obligations covered by our guarantees totaled approximately $1.1 billion, based upon the Japanese yen to U.S. dollar exchange rate at December 30, 2016. The equipment lease agreements contain covenants and cancellation events that are customary for Japanese lease facilities and that relate to Flash Ventures and each of the guarantors. Cancellation events relating to the guarantors include, among other things, an assignment of all or a substantial part of a guarantor’s business, a bankruptcy event involving a guarantor and acceleration of other monetary debts of a guarantor above a specified threshold.

The breach of a covenant or the occurrence of another cancellation event could result in an acceleration of the Flash Ventures’ lease obligations. If a cancellation event were to occur, Flash Ventures would be required to negotiate a resolution with the lessors, as well as other parties to the lease transactions, to avoid cancellation and acceleration of the lease obligations. Such resolution could include, among other things, supplementary security to be supplied by us, as guarantor, increased interest rates or waiver fees. If a cancellation event occurs and we fail to reach a resolution, we may be required to pay all or a portion of the outstanding lease obligations covered by our guarantees, which would significantly reduce our cash position and may force us to seek additional financing, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

Any decisions to reduce or discontinue paying cash dividends to our shareholders could cause the market price for our common stock to decline.

We may modify, suspend or cancel our cash dividend policy in any manner and at any time. Any reduction or discontinuance by us of the payment of quarterly cash dividends could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. Moreover, in the event our payment of quarterly cash dividends are reduced or discontinued, our failure or inability to resume paying cash dividends at historical levels could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates as a result of our international operations may negatively affect our operating results.

Because we manufacture and sell our products abroad, our revenue, cost of goods sold, margins, operating costs and cash flows are impacted by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. If the U.S. dollar exhibits sustained weakness against most foreign currencies, the U.S. dollar equivalents of unhedged manufacturing costs could increase because a significant portion of our production costs are foreign-currency denominated. Conversely, there would not be an offsetting impact to revenues since revenues are substantially U.S. dollar denominated. Additionally, we negotiate and procure some of our component requirements in U.S. dollars from non-U.S. based vendors. If the U.S. dollar weakens against other foreign currencies, some of our component suppliers may increase the price they charge for their components in order to maintain an equivalent profit margin. In addition, our purchases of NAND flash memory from Flash Ventures and our investment in Flash Ventures are denominated in Japanese yen. If this occurs, itthe Japanese yen appreciates against the U.S. dollar, our cost of purchasing NAND flash wafers and the cost to us of future funding of Flash Ventures would increase, and the value of our investments denominated in Japanese yen would be higher, increasing our exposure to asset impairment. If any of these events occur, they would have a negative impact on our operating results.

Prices for our products are substantially U.S. dollar denominated, even when sold to customers that are located outside the United States.U.S. Therefore, as a substantial portion of our sales are from countries outside the United States,U.S., fluctuations in currency exchanges rates, most notably the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other foreign currencies, contribute to variations in sales of products in impacted jurisdictions and could adversely impact demand and revenue growth. In addition, currency variations can adversely affect margins on sales of our products in countries outside the United States.U.S.

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We attempt to manage the impact of foreign currency exchange rate changes by, among other things, entering into short-term, foreign exchange contracts. However, these contracts do not cover our full exposure, and can be canceled by the counterparty if currency controls are put in place. Thus, our decisions and hedging strategy with respect to currency risks may not be successful and harm our operating results. Further, the ability to enter into foreign exchange contracts with financial institutions is based upon our available credit from such institutions and compliance with covenants and other restrictions. Operating losses, third party downgrades of our credit rating or instability in the worldwide financial markets could impact our ability to effectively manage our foreign currency exchange rate risk. Hedging also exposes us to the credit risk of our counterparty financial institutions.

Increases in our customers’ credit risk could result in credit losses and term extensions under existing contracts with customers with credit losses could result in an increase in our operating costs.

Some of our OEM customers have adopted a subcontractor model that requires us to contract directly with companies, such as ODMs, that provide manufacturing and fulfillment services to our OEM customers. Because these subcontractors are generally not as well capitalized as our direct OEM customers, this subcontractor model exposes us to increased credit risks. Our agreements with our OEM customers may not permit us to increase our product prices to alleviate this increased credit risk. Additionally, as we attempt to expand our OEM and distribution channel sales into emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, the customers with the most success in these regions may have relatively short operating histories, making it more difficult for us to accurately assess the associated credit risks. Any credit losses we may suffer as a result of these increased risks, or as a result of credit losses from any significant customer, especially in situations where there are term extensions under existing contracts with such customers, would increase our operating costs, which may negatively impact our operating results.

Our operating results fluctuate, sometimes significantly, from period to period due to many factors, which may result in a significant decline in our stock price.

Our quarterly operating results may be subject to significant fluctuations as a result of a number of other factors including:

weakness in demand for one or more product categories;

the timing of orders from and shipment of products to major customers, loss of major customers;

our product mix;
changes
reductions in the ASPs of our products;products and lower margins;

excess output, capacity or inventory, resulting in lower ASPs, financial charges or impairments, or insufficient output, capacity or inventory, resulting in lost revenue opportunities;

inability to successfully transition to 3D NAND or other technology developments, or other failure to reduce product costs to keep pace with reduction in ASPs;

manufacturing delays or interruptions;

delays in design wins or customer qualifications, acceptance by customers of competing products in lieu of our products;

success of our partnerships and joint ventures, in particular the volume, timing and cost of wafer production at Flash Ventures, and our success in managing the relationships with our strategic partners;

inability to realize the potential benefits of our acquisitions and the success of our integration efforts;

ability to penetrate new markets for our storage solutions;


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variations in the cost of and lead times for components for our products;products, disruptions of our supply chain;

limited availability of components that we obtain from a single or a limited number of suppliers;

seasonal and other fluctuations in demand for systems that use storage devices often due to technological advances;

increase in costs due to warranty claims;

higher costs as a result of currency exchange rate fluctuations; and

availability and rates of transportation.

We often ship a high percentage of our total quarterly sales in the third month of the quarter, which makes it difficult for us to forecast our financial results before the end of the quarter. As a result of the above or other factors, our forecast of

operating results for the quarter may differ materially from our actual financial results. If our results of operations fail to meet the expectations of analysts or investors, it could cause an immediate and significant decline in our stock price.

We have made and continue to make a number of estimates and assumptions relating to our consolidated financial reporting, and actual results may differ significantly from our estimates and assumptions.

We have made and continue to make a number of estimates and assumptions relating to our consolidated financial reporting. The highly technical nature of our products and the rapidly changing market conditions with which we deal means that actual results may differ significantly from our estimates and assumptions. These changes have impacted our financial results in the past and may continue to do so in the future. Key estimates and assumptions for us include:

price protection adjustments and other sales promotions and allowances on products sold to retailers, resellers and distributors;

inventory adjustments for write-down of inventories to lower of cost or market value (net realizable value);

valuation of acquired assets, particularly intangibles, and liabilities assumed;

testing of goodwill and other long-lived assets for impairment;

reserves for doubtful accounts;

accruals for product returns;

accruals for warranty costs related to product defects;

accruals for litigation and other contingencies;

liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits; and

expensing of stock-based compensation.

In addition, changes in existing accounting or taxation rules or practices, new accounting pronouncements or taxation rules, or varying interpretations of current accounting pronouncements or taxation practice could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.


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The market price of our common stock is volatile.

The market price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile. Factors that may significantly affect the market price of our common stock include the following:

actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results, including those resulting from the seasonality of our business;

announcements of technological innovations by us or our competitors, which may decrease the volume and profitability of sales of our existing products and increase the risk of inventory obsolescence;

new products introduced by us or our competitors;

strategic actions by us or competitors, such as acquisitions and restructurings;

periods of severe pricing pressures due to oversupply or price erosion resulting from competitive pressures or industry consolidation;

developments with respect to patents or proprietary rights;rights, and any litigation;

proposed or adopted regulatory changes or developments or anticipated or pending investigations, proceedings or litigation that involve or affect us or our competitors;

conditions and trends in the hard drive, solid state storage, flash memory, computer, mobile, data and content management, storage and communication industries;

contraction in our operating results or growth rates that are lower than our previous high growth-rate periods;

failure to meet analysts’ revenue or earnings estimates or changes in financial estimates or publication of research reports and recommendations by financial analysts relating specifically to us or the storage industry in general;

announcements relating to dividends and share repurchases; and

macroeconomic conditions that affect the market generally and, in particular, developments related to market conditions for our industry.

In addition, the stock market is subject to fluctuations in the stock prices and trading volumes that affect the market prices of the stock of public companies, including us. These broad market fluctuations have adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect the market price of shares of our common stock. For example, expectations concerning general economic conditions may cause the stock market to experience extreme price and volume fluctuations from time to time that particularly affect the stock prices of many high technology companies. These fluctuations often appear tomay be unrelated to the operating performance of the companies.

Securities class action lawsuits are often brought against companies after periods of volatility in the market price of their securities. A number of such suits have been filed against us in the past, and should any new lawsuits be filed, such matters could result in substantial costs and a diversion of resources and management’s attention.

The resale of shares of common stock issued to Hitachi Ltd. ("Hitachi") in connection with our acquisition of HGST could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

On March 8, 2012, as partial consideration for our acquisition of HGST, we issued 25 million shares of our common stock to Hitachi. On each of November 6, 2013 and November 13, 2014, Hitachi completed a secondary offering of 12.5 million and 6.25 million, respectively, of these shares. Future sales of the remaining 6.25 million shares of our common stock held by Hitachi could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.


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Our cash balances and investment portfolio are subject to various risks, any of which could adversely impact our financial position.

Given the international footprint of our business, we have both domestic and international cash balances and investments. We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, security types, and maturities. These investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, market, political, sovereign and interest rate risks, which may be exacerbated by unusual events that affect global financial markets. A material part of our investment portfolio consists of U.S. government securities and bank deposits. If global credit and equity markets experience prolonged periods of decline, or if there is a downgrade of the U.S. government credit rating due to an actual or threatened default on government debt, our investment portfolio may be adversely impacted and we could determine that our investments may experience an other-than-temporary decline in fair value, requiring impairment charges that could adversely affect our financial results. A failure of any of these financial institutions in which deposits exceed FDIC limits could also have an adverse impact on our financial position.

In addition, if we are unable to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to repay our indebtedness, fund acquisitions, pay dividends, or repurchase shares of our common stock, we may choose or be required to increase our borrowings, if available, or to repatriate funds to the United StatesU.S. at a substantial tax cost. We must comply with regulations regarding the conversion and distribution of funds earned in the local currencies of various countries. If we cannot comply with these or other applicable regulations, we may face increased difficulties in using cash generated in these countries.

If our internal controls are found to be ineffective, our stock price may be adversely affected.

Our most recent evaluation resulted in our conclusion that as of July 3, 2015,1, 2016, in compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, our internal control over financial reporting was effective. If our internal control over financial reporting is found to be ineffective or if we identify a material weakness in our financial reporting in future periods, investors may lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, we may be required to restate our financial results, our access to capital markets may be limited, and we may be subject to sanctions from regulatory agencies and The NASDAQ Global Select Market, each of which may adversely affect our stock price.

From time to time we may become subject to income tax examinations or similar proceedings, and as a result we may incur additional costs and expenses or owe additional taxes, interest and penalties that may negatively impact our operating results.

We are subject to income taxes in the United StatesU.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions, and our determination of our tax liability is subject to review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities. For example, as we have previously disclosed, we are under examination by the Internal Revenue Service for certain fiscal years and in connection with that examination, we received Notice of Proposed Adjustmentsa Revenue Agent’s Report seeking certain adjustments to income as disclosed in Part I, Item 1, Note 610 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Although we believe our tax positions are properly supported, the final timing and resolution of any tax examinations are subject to significant uncertainty and could result in our having to pay amounts to the applicable tax authority in order to resolve examination of our tax positions, which could result in an increase or decrease of our current estimate of unrecognized tax benefits and may negatively impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

We are subject to risks associated with loss or non-renewal of favorable tax treatment under agreements or treaties with foreign tax authorities.

Portions of our operations are subject to a reduced tax rate or are free of tax under various tax holidays that expire in whole or in part from time to time. Manytime, or may be terminated if certain conditions are not met. Although many of these holidays may be extended when certain conditions are met, or terminated if certain conditions arewe may not met.be able to meet such conditions. If the tax holidays are not extended, or if we fail to satisfy the conditions of the reduced tax rate, then our effective tax rate could increase in the future. In addition, any actions by us to repatriate non-U.S. earnings for which we have not previously provided for U.S. taxes may impact our effective tax rate.

Item 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Recent SalesTable of Unregistered SecuritiesContents
There were no unregistered sales
Changes in tax laws could increase our worldwide tax rate and materially affect our financial position and results of equity securities duringoperations.

Tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws and regulations are passed and new interpretations of the period coveredlaws are issued or applied. While the former U.S. administration and members of Congress made public statements indicating that tax reform is a priority, and certain changes to the U.S. tax laws and regulations have been proposed, additional changes may be proposed or implemented by this report.
Issuer Purchasesthe new U.S. President and his administration. In addition, many countries in the European Union, as well as a number of Equity Securities
There were no repurchases by us of sharesother countries and organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, are actively considering changes to existing tax laws that, if enacted, could increase our tax obligations in many countries where we do business. Due to the large scale of our common stock duringU.S. and international business activities, many of these proposed changes to the quarter ended April 1, 2016.taxation of our activities, if enacted, could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our financial position and results of operations.

Item 5. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 2.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

On or about May 3, 2016, we initiated a set of actions relating to a restructuring plan (the “Restructuring Plan”) associated with the integration of substantial portions of our HGST and WD subsidiaries. The Restructuring Plan consists of asset and footprint reduction, product roadmap consolidation and organization rationalization.None.
We expect the Restructuring Plan to be substantially completed by the end of calendar year 2017 and we expect it will result in total pre-tax charges of approximately $400 million. These charges are expected to consist of approximately $185 million in employee termination benefits, $125 million in asset charges and $90 million in other related costs. Approximately $275 million of these charges are expected to be cash expenditures.
As a result of the integration of substantial portions of our WD and HGST subsidiaries, we expect to achieve total cost savings of approximately $800 million on an annualized run rate basis by the end of calendar 2017. The total estimated cash expenditures to achieve these savings is approximately $800 million, which includes the $275 million related to the Restructuring Plan and an additional $525 million related to the following:
closure of our head component front end wafer manufacturing facility in Odawara, Japan previously reported on a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 22, 2016;
purchases of property, plant and equipment, such as facility improvements in connection with certain facility consolidations and enterprise software implementations; and
previous and planned immaterial integration activities and other cost savings initiatives.
All of the components of the Restructuring Plan are not finalized and actual costs, cash expenditures and timing may vary from our estimates due to changes in the scope or assumptions underlying the Restructuring Plan.
Item 3.
Defaults Upon Senior Securities
Item 6.EXHIBITS
None.

Item 4.
Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Item 5.
Other Information

On February 2, 2017, our Board of Directors approved Amended and Restated By-laws (the “Amended By-laws”). In addition to purely ministerial or minor conforming changes, the Amended By-laws amend Section 1.02 thereof to change the location of our principal office to 5601 Great Oaks Parkway, City of San Jose, County of Santa Clara, State of California.

Item 6.
Exhibits

The exhibits listed in the Exhibit Index (following the signature page of the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q) are filed with, or incorporated by reference in, this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as specified in the Exhibit List, from exhibits previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Certain agreements listed in the Exhibit ListIndex that we have filed or incorporated by reference may contain representations and warranties by us or our subsidiaries. These representations and warranties have been made solely for the benefit of the other party or parties to such agreements and (i) may have been qualified by disclosures made to such other party or parties, (ii) were made only as of the date of such agreements or such other date(s) as may be specified in such agreements and are subject to more recent developments, which may not be fully reflected in our public disclosures, (iii) may reflect the allocation of risk among the parties to such agreements and (iv) may apply materiality standards different from what may be viewed as material to investors. Accordingly, these representations and warranties may not describe the actual state of affairs at the date hereof and should not be relied upon.



SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
By:/s/ MARK P. LONG
Mark P. Long
President WD Capital, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)
Dated: February 7, 2017



EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit
Number
Description
2.1Stock Purchase Agreement, dated as of September 29, 2015, by and among Unis Union Information System Ltd., Unisplendour Corporation Limited and Western Digital Corporation (Filed as Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 10, 2015)
2.2Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of October 21, 2015, among Western Digital Corporation, Schrader Acquisition Corporation and SanDisk Corporation (Filed as Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 26, 2015)±
3.1Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Western Digital Corporation, as amended to date (Filed as Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 8, 2006)
3.2Amended and Restated BylawsBy-Laws of Western Digital Corporation, as amended effective as of November 14, 2013 (Filed as Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2013)
4.1Indenture (including Form of 7.375% Senior Secured Notes due 2023), dated as of April 13, 2016, among Western Digital Corporation; HGST, Inc., WD Media, LLC, Western Digital (Fremont), LLC and Western Digital Technologies, Inc., as guarantors; and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee and collateral agent (Filed as Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14, 2016)
4.2Indenture (including Form of 10.500% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2024), dated as of April 13, 2016, among Western Digital Corporation; HGST, Inc., WD Media, LLC, Western Digital (Fremont), LLC and Western Digital Technologies, Inc., as guarantors; and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (Filed as Exhibit 4.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14, 2016)
4.3Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of April 13, 2016, among Western Digital Corporation; HGST, Inc., WD Media, LLC, Western Digital (Fremont), LLC and Western Digital Technologies, Inc., as guarantors; and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, as representatives of the initial purchasers of the 10.500% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2024 (Filed as Exhibit 4.3 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14, 2016)February 2, 2017†
10.1Form of Notice of Grant of Performance Stock Units and Performance Stock Unit Award Agreement (revised March 2016) under the Western Digital Corporation Amended and Restated 2004 Performance Incentive Plan†Plan Non-Employee Director Restricted Stock Unit Grant Program, as amended November 4, 2016†*
10.2Escrow Agreement, dated as of April 13, 2016, among Western Digital Corporation U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee under the 7.375% Senior Secured Notes due 2023 Indenture,Summary of Compensation Arrangements for Named Executive Officers and SunTrust Bank, as escrow agent and securities intermediary (Filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14, 2016)Directors†*
10.3Escrow Agreement, dated as of April 13, 2016, among Western Digital Corporation U.S. Bank National Association,Executive Severance Plan, amended and restated as trustee under the 10.500% Senior Unsecured Notes due 2024 Indenture, and SunTrust Bank, as escrow agent (Filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 14, 2016)of February 2, 2017†*
10.412.1Loan Agreement dated asStatement of April 29, 2016, by and among Western Digital Corporation, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and collateral agent, and the lenders and financial institutions from timeComputation of Ratio of Earnings to time party thereto†
10.5Guaranty Agreement dated as of April 29, 2016, by and among Western Digital Corporation, the subsidiary guarantors party thereto and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent for the guaranteed creditors (Filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No.1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29, 2016)
10.6Escrow Agreement dated as of April 29, 2016, by and among Western Digital Corporation, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and collateral agent, and SunTrust Bank, as escrow agent and securities intermediary (Filed as Exhibit 10.3 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No.1-08703) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29, 2016)Fixed Charges†
31.1Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002†
31.2Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002†
32.1Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002††2002**
32.2Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002††2002**
101.INSXBRL Instance Document†
101.SCHXBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document†
101.CALXBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document†
101.LABXBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document†
101.PREXBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document†
101.DEFXBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document†

† Filed with this report.
† † Furnished with this report.
Filed with this report.
*Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement required to be filed as an exhibit pursuant to applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
± Certain schedules have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. The Company agrees to furnish supplementally copies of any of the omitted schedules upon request by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
**WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATIONFurnished with this report.
±Registrant
/s/ OLIVIER C. LEONETTI
Olivier C. Leonetti
Executive Vice PresidentCertain schedules have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. The Company agrees to furnish supplemental copies of any of the omitted schedules upon request by the Securities and Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)Exchange Commission.
Date: May 9, 2016


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