The recent upward movement and significant intraday volatility in Western Digital’s stock are primarily propelled by an acute supply-demand imbalance in the high-capacity storage market, driven by the relentless expansion of artificial intelligence workloads. Hyperscale data centers are facing severe shortages of high-density hard disk drives (HDDs), which remain the essential bedrock for storing vast amounts of training and operational AI data. Industry analysts estimate that storage demand is growing far quicker than manufacturing capacity can expand, giving Western Digital immense pricing power. This supply tightness has allowed the company to consistently command higher average selling prices, projecting a multi-quarter margin…