---
title: "Western Digital fell 17.35% to $267.63 in a $2.5 trillion Nasdaq rout, and Fidelity holds 9.2%"
description: "Western Digital fell 17.35% to $267.63 in a Nasdaq rout that erased about $2.5 trillion, even as its chief executive claims demand visibility into 2031. Filed the same day: Fidelity at 9.2%, a September 30 snapshot."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Chips"
published: 2026-11-06T16:21:31.836Z
modified: 2026-11-06T16:21:31.836Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/western-digital-fell-17-35-to-267-63-in-a-2-5-trillion-nasdaq-rout-and-fidelity-holds-9-2
language: en
keywords: "Western Digital, Memory Chips, Stock Moves, Data Centers, Nasdaq, Fund Holdings"
---

# Western Digital fell 17.35% to $267.63 in a $2.5 trillion Nasdaq rout, and Fidelity holds 9.2%

> Western Digital fell 17.35% to $267.63 in a Nasdaq rout that erased about $2.5 trillion, even as its chief executive claims demand visibility into 2031. Filed the same day: Fidelity at 9.2%, a September 30 snapshot.

[Western Digital](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/western-digital) chief executive [Irving Tan](https://theinference.org/markets/people/irving-tan) told investors on the October 22 call that he has visibility into 2030 and 2031 with his top seven cloud customers [1]. On Thursday the market stopped at the midterm election instead.

The stock closed down 17.35% at $267.63 as the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% into correction, erasing about $2.5 trillion, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped more than 12%, its worst day since 2020 [2][3]. SanDisk lost 22%, [Micron](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/micron) 17%, [Seagate](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/seagate) 16% [2][1]. Wednesday's Dow rally, the best post-election day in 44 years, had already left [Western Digital](https://theinference.org/article/western-digital-s-cloud-revenue-rose-54-on-a-28-price-per-terabyte-and-the-stock-fell-7-5) 6.7% lower [4].

*Chart: **Memory and storage names led the Nasdaq's worst day since 2020** Column chart of Thursday's declines: SanDisk 22%, Micron 17%, Western Digital 17.35%, Seagate 16%.*

*One-day share price declines on Thursday, November 5, 2026, in percent. Sources: Investing.com and Yahoo Finance. [1][2]*

## Sold through 2028, repriced for 2029

The order book did not crack. [Fiscal first-quarter revenue](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000106040) was $4.38 billion, up 55%, price per terabyte rose 28%, cloud buyers were 88% of sales, and the December quarter is guided to $5.1 billion, the quarter The Inference parsed on November 3 [5]. Seagate chief executive Dave Mosley says most of its nearline drives, the high-capacity storage that fills cloud data centers, sit under long-term agreements through calendar 2028 [1].

*Chart: **Revenue has more than doubled in nine quarters as gross margin climbed to 57.8%** Line chart of Western Digital quarterly revenue rising from about $2.0 billion in the June 2024 quarter to $4.38 billion in the October 2026 quarter, with gross margin climbing from about 35% to 58%.*

*Western Digital quarterly revenue (USD billions) and gross margin (percent of revenue), by calendar quarter, from its SEC filings. [11]*

Politics cracked instead. Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari, whose party just won both houses of Congress, wrote that "top of the Democratic agenda on day 1 needs to be a pause on advanced AI development," and [an NBC-SSRS exit poll found about 76% of voters oppose new data centers](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/seagate-sinks-16-lawmaker-urges-160158004.html) where they live [1][4].

## The bans were multiplying before anyone voted

[Citi](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/citigroup) Research, in data shared by The Information, counted US data center bans and pauses near zero through mid-2025, about 20 by December, past 300 in June and above 500 by October [6]. UBS puts about 30% of expected US capacity additions in 2028 at risk from construction pauses, and [Goldman Sachs](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/goldman-sachs) estimates 45% of planned US capacity could face restrictions under newly elected governors [6][7].

*Chart: **US data center bans and pauses climbed past 500 before the election** Line chart of US data center construction bans and pauses rising from near zero in mid-2025 to above 500 by October 2026.*

*Cumulative count of US data center construction bans and pauses; Citi Research data shared by The Information, as of each month shown. [6]*

## A position blowout, then Fidelity's mark

Thursday was mostly mechanics. [Bloomberg reports margin calls from Taiwan to Hong Kong](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-06/asia-hedge-funds-rich-investors-face-steep-losses-in-ai-selloff); the Hong Kong fund Aspex lost 16% in October and the AI-focused Value Aligned Research Advisors fell 33% [8]. "It looks more like a position blowout than a fundamental rethinking of the future," Hong Kong analyst Travis Lundy said [8].

Bulls can point to [Friday morning's bounce, SanDisk up 10%](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/11/06/sandisk-surges-10-micron-and-western-digital-jump-8-as-memory-and-storage-stocks-rebound-from-ai-sell-off/), to [Morgan Stanley](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/morgan-stanley)'s forecast of more than $1 trillion in AI infrastructure spending next year, and to Yardeni Research's buying-opportunity call [9][7]. But at 11.5 times forward earnings against its own five-year median of 9.75, the crash did not make the stock cheap against its own history, and the 28% price-per-terabyte gain has to survive if a pause becomes law [5].

Fidelity's FMR filed [a routine passive-ownership form](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/106040/000031506626002892/0000315066-26-002892-index.htm) on the day of the crash: 9.2% of Western Digital, 31.6 million shares, sole voting power over 28.9 million, a September 30 snapshot [10]. What it did on Thursday stays private until February's filing. The front of the book is under contract; the back is under politics.

## Takeaway

The order book is sold through 2028 and Fidelity holds 9.2%, but with past 500 US data center bans and a day-one pause agenda in Congress, the stock's risk now sits in politics, not demand.

## Sources

1. [Yahoo Finance (TIKR), 'Seagate Sinks 16% as Lawmaker Urges a Pause on Advanced AI Development', 5 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/seagate-sinks-16-lawmaker-urges-160158004.html)
2. [Investing.com, 'Why is Western Digital stock plunging today?', 5 November 2026](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/why-is-western-digital-stock-plunging-today-93CH-5005037)
3. [GuruFocus via TradingView, 'Nasdaq Suffers Worst AI Panic in Years as Nvidia, SanDisk, and Western Digital Sink', 5 November 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/gurufocus:5b943a694094b:0-nasdaq-suffers-worst-ai-panic-in-years-as-nvidia-sandisk-and-western-digital-sink/)
4. [Fast Company, 'Bad memory: Some chip stocks are tumbling despite the broader post-election rally for tech', 5 November 2026](https://www.fastcompany.com/91636356/micron-sandisk-stocks-are-tumbling-why-are-memory-chips-down)
5. [Zacks via TradingView, 'Western Digital Falls 15.5% in One Month. Is the Dip a Buying Chance?', 5 November 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/zacks:29113154a094b:0-western-digital-falls-15-5-in-one-month-is-the-dip-a-buying-chance/)
6. [Benzinga via MSN, 'From Micron to AMD, AI stocks crater and Citi just flagged an exponential new threat to data centers', 5 November 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/from-micron-to-amd-ai-stocks-crater-and-citi-just-flagged-an-exponential-new-threat-to-data-centers/ar-AA2gQgyc)
7. [24/7 Wall St., 'SanDisk Surges 10%, Micron and Western Digital Jump 8% as Memory and Storage Stocks Rebound From AI Sell-Off', 6 November 2026](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/11/06/sandisk-surges-10-micron-and-western-digital-jump-8-as-memory-and-storage-stocks-rebound-from-ai-sell-off/)
8. [Bloomberg, 'Asia Hedge Funds, Rich Investors Face Steep Losses in AI Selloff', 6 November 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-06/asia-hedge-funds-rich-investors-face-steep-losses-in-ai-selloff)
9. [Benzinga, 'SanDisk Leads Memory Stocks Lower: A Look Inside the Rout', 5 November 2026](https://www.benzinga.com/markets/tech/26/11/62943088/sandisk-leads-memory-stocks-lower-a-look-inside-the-rout)
10. [US SEC EDGAR, FMR LLC Schedule 13G/A on Western Digital Corp, filed 5 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/106040/000031506626002892/0000315066-26-002892-index.htm)
11. [Western Digital, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 6 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000106040)


---

Western Digital fell 17.35% to $267.63 in a $2.5 trillion Nasdaq rout, and Fidelity holds 9.2% — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/western-digital-fell-17-35-to-267-63-in-a-2-5-trillion-nasdaq-rout-and-fidelity-holds-9-2