Western Digital Corporation

Hard disk drives and data-center storageFounded 1970- HQ today: San Jose, California, United States

Founders

Who Founded Western Digital?

Alvin B. Phillips · Founded 1970 · HQ today: San Jose, California, United States

Who founded Western Digital?

Western Digital was founded by Alvin B. Phillips in 1970 in Newport Beach, California, United States. It is now led by Irving Tan.

Founders: Alvin B. Phillips
Founded: 1970
Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States
Number of founders: 1
Current CEO: Irving Tan (since 2025)

Where was Western Digital founded?: Western Digital was founded in Newport Beach, California, United States in 1970. en.wikipedia.org
When was Western Digital founded?: Western Digital was founded in 1970.
Who started Western Digital?: Western Digital was founded by Alvin B. Phillips.
How old is Western Digital?: Western Digital is 56 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

Alvin B. Phillips founded General Digital in Santa Ana, California, in 1970 to make semiconductor test equipment. The company took the name Western Digital in 1971 and moved into calculator chips and later disk controllers for personal computers. In 1988 it bought the hard-drive operations of Tandon Corporation, which took it into drive manufacturing. It acquired media maker Komag in 2007, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies in 2012, and SanDisk in 2016. After announcing a plan in October 2023 to split its HDD and flash businesses, it completed the Sandisk separation on February 21, 2025.

Alvin B. Phillips

Co-founder 1970

Background

Electronics engineer who worked at Motorola before starting his own company in Southern California.

Role at Western Digital Corporation

Alvin B. Phillips founded General Digital in Santa Ana, California, in 1970 to build test equipment for semiconductor makers. The company was renamed Western Digital in 1971. It later moved into chips and disk controllers before becoming a hard-drive manufacturer in the late 1980s. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).

Western Digital Corporation: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Irving Tan

Chief Executive Officer

2025 – Present

Leads the HDD-focused company, including the 2026 disposal of most of the retained Sandisk stake to reduce debt and retire shares.

Kris Sennesael

Chief Financial Officer

2025 – Present

As a key financial executive, he navigated the absolutely brutal, highly cyclical volatility of the global NAND flash and HDD markets.

David Goeckeler

Former CEO

2020 – 2025

Recruited from Cisco to serve as CEO, he orchestrated the final capitulation to activist investor Elliott Management, fundamentally dismantling the massive conglomerate built over the previous decade.

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Who Founded Western Digital? FAQ

Who was the founder of Western Digital?

Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970, by American electronics engineer and semiconductor executive Alvin B. Phillips.

What was the company's original name upon founding?

The company was originally incorporated as General Digital Corporation in Newport Beach and Santa Ana, California, before changing its name to Western Digital in July 1971.

What was Alvin B. Phillips' career before founding the company?

Phillips was a pioneer in semiconductor manufacturing who worked at Sylvania and Motorola Semiconductor, where he authored widely cited textbooks on transistor engineering.

What products did General Digital originally manufacture?

General Digital initially built automated MOS semiconductor testing equipment before quickly transitioning to designing MOS integrated circuits and electronic calculator chips.

Who provided early venture capital backing for the company?

Emerson Electric Company and a syndicate of private venture investors provided crucial seed capital to finance Phillips' semiconductor fabrication facility in Orange County.

How did Western Digital pioneer early personal computer chips?

Under Phillips and early engineering leaders, Western Digital developed the FD1771, the world's first single-chip floppy disk controller, which became an essential component of early microcomputers.

When did Alvin B. Phillips leave Western Digital?

Phillips served as President and Chairman through Western Digital's rapid initial expansion and 1970s public listing before transitioning to other high-tech semiconductor ventures.

How did Phillips' semiconductor foundation pave the way for hard drives?

Western Digital's mastery of disk controller silicon and drive interfaces made it the premier supplier of controller boards to PC makers, directly enabling its 1988 entry into full hard drive manufacturing.

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