WD sees sustainability as key business driver in an ‘AI economy’

Hard drive company WD promoted long-term operations and sustainability executive Jackie Jung to become its first chief sustainability officer in February, as it steps up sales to companies building AI data centers.

Her vision: Turn sustainability into a “brand” for WD, a strategy that reduces risk for the $6 billion company (formerly known as Western Digital) while creating new revenue as corporations invest in artificial intelligence. 

“WD’s sustainability program started as a compliance-focused program and now is becoming a competitive advantage for the company,” said Jung, an engineer who joined WD via an acquisition in 2007. “Sustainability actually is a key driver for us to deliver solutions to the AI economy.”

Jung most recently was vice president of global operations strategy, corporate sustainability and transformation. She retains her operations title, underscoring sustainability’s role in both resource efficiency and revenue generation. Her influence is extensive: Nearly 90 percent of WD’s 40,000 employees are in operations.

WD is a leading supplier of high-capacity data storage technology that drives AI applications. Since 2020, the company has cut absolute emissions from its operations and electricity use by 55 percent. WD’s ability to reduce the energy consumed by its drives and mine fewer materials to make them is critical for future reductions. 

One example is a program WD created last year for Microsoft that recovers and redeploys rare earths from obsolete data center hard drives. The initiative boosts WD’s to use recycled content for 43 percent of the materials in its products, decreases its reliance on increasingly scarce elements and helps Microsoft recover value from its aging technology as its data center footprint grows.

“This initiative manages risks, reduces costs and enables a customer; that’s business value,” Jung said.

Governance structure

Jung reports to the WD’s executive vice president and chief of global operations, but she presents to the company’s board on a quarterly basis.

Board-level metrics related to sustainability are primarily the concern of the company’s governance committee, which also oversees human rights and ethics issues; and the audit committee, which is responsible for public disclosures.  

Jung’s sustainability council includes cross-functional leaders representing supply chain, quality controls, human resources, sales and marketing, research and development, legal, strategy and ethics and compliance. 

“WD is a very execution-focused company,”she said, “so if we have a strategy, then the council will translate that into [key performance indicators] that measure progress.” she said.

The ‘AI economy’

WD is keying into corporate interest in best practices for more sustainable AI as it leverages sustainability-related accomplishments in marketing and sales pitches. 

For example, the company has reduced the emissions intensity of its hard drives by 31 percent on a per-petabyte basis since 2020. More than 36 percent of the materials in its products are recycled. Five of its sites run on 100 percent carbon-free energy.     

WD offers workforce training on AI with the aim of helping functions across the company become more efficient; it wants its human workforce to become “AI supervisors” who can use their unique domain expertise to continue improving the results that AI can bring and manage for maximum impact..

“We are equipping people with AI knowledge, No. 1 — [that is,] training them — and No. 2, helping them navigate to new roles,” Jung said. That’s important for attracting new employees and crucial for preserving knowledge and the “wealth of information” represented by its workforce.

WD uses AI within its facilities, aiming to improve energy efficiency and reduce water consumption.

For example, one application monitors chiller performance and automates their operation based on ambient conditions. It also uses AI to increase its use of recycled water, by keeping tabs on filters and predicting quality — almost 90 percent of the water in some systems is recycled, compared with the typical rate of 70 percent, Jung said.

WD’s sustainability team is also using AI to gather information about best practices used by other companies that might be beneficial for its own operations. 

“The greatest thing about sustainability is that it’s relevant to the entire world,” Jung said, “and you can get tremendous insight in learning from others.”