WD Chief Product Officer to Explore the Economics of Scaling AI at Web Summit 2026

LISBON, Portugal — November 9, 2026 — As AI moves from experimentation to large-scale deployment, organizations are increasingly focused on translating technical breakthroughs into sustainable business value. At Web Summit 2026 in Lisbon, WD (NASDAQ: WDC) will highlight why economically scalable data infrastructure is essential to supporting AI's next phase of growth.

On November 10, Ahmed Shihab, Chief Product Officer at WD, will participate in a fireside chat titled "AI at Scale: Shifting from Technical Capability to Profitability." The discussion will explore how organizations can scale AI sustainably while balancing performance, cost and long-term business value.

The session builds on findings from a recent IDC white paper sponsored by WD, Built for Scale: The Enduring Role of HDDs in the AI Era, which highlights the growing importance of data retention, accessibility and storage economics as AI adoption accelerates:

• 98.2% of surveyed organizations consider total cost of ownership per terabyte important or very important when making storage decisions.

• 74.3% report that AI and GenAI have caused them to retain data longer.

• 75.9% are bringing archived cold-tier data back online for AI workloads.

As AI workloads generate and reuse increasing volumes of data, infrastructure decisions must account for more than immediate compute performance. WD works with organizations to address the capacity, reliability, and economics required to support AI at scale.

Session Details

• WHAT: AI at Scale: Shifting from Technical Capability to Profitability

• WHO: Ahmed Shihab, Chief Product Officer, WD, in conversation with Jim Edwards, Executive Editor, Fortune

• WHEN: November 10 | 2:40–3:00 p.m. local time

• WHERE: Web Summit 2026 | Corporate Innovation Summit, Stage 7 | Lisbon, Portugal

Source: IDC White Paper, Sponsored by Western Digital Corporation, Built for Scale: The Enduring Role of HDDs in the AI Era, Doc. #US54789026, September 2026.

About WD
WD, also known as Western Digital, builds the storage infrastructure that powers certainty in the AI-driven data economy. At the forefront of innovation, WD partners with the world's leading hyperscalers, cloud service providers, and enterprises to deliver reliable storage solutions that are proven and trusted at scale. Driven by a culture of innovation and execution, WD helps customers store, protect, and use the world's data with confidence. Follow WD on LinkedIn and learn more at www.wd.com.

© Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates. All rights reserved. WD, the WD Design, and Western Digital are registered trademarks or trademarks of Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. World’s Most Ethical Companies and “Ethisphere” names and marks are registered trademarks of Ethisphere LLC. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.