Sandisk (SNDK) 10-12B/ARegistration of securities (amended)

Exhibit 99.1

Dear Western Digital Corporation Stockholder:

In October 2023, we announced our plan to separate Western Digital Corporation’s (“WDC”) flash business from our remaining hard disk drive business pursuant to a spin-off transaction, resulting in two independent, publicly traded companies. The new company distributed to WDC stockholders in the spin-off, Sandisk Corporation (“Spinco”), will hold our flash business. Spinco will focus on delivering a broad and ever-expanding portfolio of flash-based products and pursuing the emerging development of disruptive, new memory technologies. Upon completion of the spin-off, WDC will focus on its existing HDD business. WDC will continue to lead the storage industry in delivering powerful HDD solutions for high-capacity applications.

WDC believes that both the long-term potential and overall valuation of its HDD and flash franchises will be enhanced as a result of separating its current portfolio into two independent companies. Each company will have a strong financial foundation, a compelling innovation roadmap, a sharpened strategic focus and an experienced leadership team.

The spin-off will be effected through a pro rata distribution of 80.1% of the outstanding shares of Spinco common stock to holders of WDC common stock in a transaction that is intended to be tax-free to holders of WDC common stock (except with respect to any cash received in lieu of fractional shares) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Each WDC stockholder will receive one-third (1/3) of one share of Spinco common stock for each share of WDC common stock held by such WDC stockholder as of [●] Pacific time on [●], the record date for the distribution. You will receive cash in lieu of any fractional shares which you would have received after the application of the above ratio. Stockholder approval of the distribution is not required, and you do not need to take any action to receive the shares of Spinco common stock to which you are entitled as a WDC stockholder. In addition, you do not need to pay any consideration or surrender or exchange your WDC common stock in order to receive shares of Spinco common stock.

We expect Spinco common stock to be approved for listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) under the ticker symbol “SNDK.” Following the spin-off, we expect shares of WDC common stock will continue to trade on Nasdaq.

I encourage you to read the attached information statement, which is being made available to all holders of WDC common stock as of [●], 2024. The information statement describes the separation and distribution in detail and contains important business and financial information about Spinco.

We believe the separation provides tremendous opportunities for our businesses as we work to continue to build long-term value. We appreciate your continuing support of WDC and look forward to your future support of Spinco.

Sincerely,

Matthew E. Massengill

Independent Chair of the Board

Western Digital Corporation

Dear Future Sandisk Corporation Stockholder:

I am delighted to welcome you as a future stockholder of our new company, Sandisk Corporation (“Spinco”). Spinco will focus on delivering a broad and ever-expanding portfolio of flash-based products and pursuing the emerging development of disruptive, new memory technologies.

We are eager to begin our journey at this exciting time for our business. Over the past several years, we have strengthened the fundamentals of our business and enhanced our operational efficiency. Having laid that important groundwork, we believe Spinco is well positioned to drive growth and deliver long-term stockholder value with our leading flash product portfolio, premium consumer brand and differentiated semiconductor innovation engine. We expect Spinco common stock to be approved for listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the ticker symbol “SNDK.”

We invite you to learn more about Spinco by reviewing the enclosed information statement. As we prepare to become an independent, publicly traded company, we look to build upon our legacy, define the future for our industry and serve our customers’ needs in the best way possible. Our future is bright, and we look forward to enhancing stockholder value and your support as a stockholder.

Sincerely,

David V. Goeckeler

Chief Executive Officer

Sandisk Corporation

Information contained herein is subject to completion or amendment. A Registration Statement on Form 10 relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION STATEMENT AND SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED DECEMBER 20, 2024

INFORMATION STATEMENT

Sandisk Corporation

Common Stock

(par value $0.01 per share)

This information statement is being furnished in connection with the distribution by Western Digital Corporation (“WDC”) to its stockholders of Sandisk Corporation (“Spinco” or the “Company”), a wholly owned subsidiary of WDC. Prior to such distribution, WDC, Spinco and their applicable affiliates will consummate a series of transactions to separate WDC and Spinco, resulting in WDC continuing to own WDC’s hard disk drive business and Spinco owning WDC’s flash business, as more fully described in this information statement (the separation and distribution transactions together, the “spin-off”). WDC will effect the distribution by distributing 80.1% of the outstanding shares of Spinco common stock owned by WDC on a pro rata basis to existing stockholders of WDC. The distribution is subject to certain conditions, as set forth in this information statement.

For each share of WDC common stock held of record by you as of [●] Pacific Time on [●], the record date for the distribution, you will receive one-third (1/3) of one share of Spinco common stock. You will receive cash in lieu of any fractional shares which you would have received after the application of the above ratio. We expect our common stock will be distributed by WDC to you on or about [●], the distribution date. As discussed under the section of this information statement entitled “The Separation and Distribution—Trading Between the Record Date and the Distribution Date,” if you sell your shares of WDC common stock in the “regular-way” market after the record date for the distribution and before the distribution date, you also will be selling your right to receive shares of Spinco common stock in connection with the spin-off.

We are not asking you for a proxy and you are not requested to send WDC a proxy. No vote of WDC’s stockholders is required in connection with the spin-off. You will not be required to pay any consideration or to exchange or surrender your existing shares of WDC or take any other action to receive the shares of Spinco on the distribution date to which you are entitled.

The distribution is intended to be tax-free to our stockholders (except with respect to any cash received in lieu of fractional shares) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. You should consult your tax advisor as to the particular consequences of the distribution to you, including the applicability and effect of any U.S. federal, state and local and any foreign, tax laws.

There is no current trading market for our common stock, although we expect that a limited market, commonly known as a “when-issued” trading market, will develop shortly before the distribution date, and we expect “regular-way” trading of our common stock to begin on the first trading day following the completion of the distribution. We intend to apply to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “SNDK.”

This information statement is being furnished solely to provide information to WDC stockholders who are entitled to receive shares of our common stock in the distribution. The information statement is not, and is not to be construed as, an inducement or encouragement to buy, hold or sell any of our securities or securities of WDC. We believe that the information in this information statement is accurate as of the date set forth on the cover. Changes to the information contained in this information statement may occur after that date, and none of us, WDC, the Spinco board of directors or the WDC board of directors undertake any obligation to update such information, except in the normal course of our and WDC’s public disclosure obligations and practices and as required by applicable federal securities laws.

At the time our registration statement, of which this information statement is a part, is declared effective by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), Spinco will become subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder (the “Exchange Act”), and, in accordance with the Exchange Act, we will file periodic reports (including Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K), proxy statements, and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website, www.sec.gov, that contains periodic reports, proxy statements and information statements and other information regarding issuers, like us, that file electronically with the SEC. We encourage you to review our periodic reports, proxy statements and information statements, and any other information we file with the SEC when they are made available, as they will contain important information about Spinco, in particular for periods after the date of this information statement.

In reviewing the information statement, you should carefully consider the matters described under the caption “Risk Factors” beginning on page 30.

Neither the SEC nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this information statement is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

This information statement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

This information statement is first being made available to WDC stockholders on or about [●], 2024, and a Notice of Internet Availability of Information Statement Materials containing instructions describing how to access this information statement was first mailed to WDC stockholders on or about [●], 2024. This information statement will be mailed to WDC stockholders who previously elected to receive a paper copy of WDC’s materials.

The date of this information statement is [●], 2024.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this information statement to “Spinco,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” and “our company” refer to Sandisk Corporation and its subsidiaries. References in this information statement to “WDC” or “Western Digital” refer to Western Digital Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries (other than Spinco and its consolidated subsidiaries), unless the context otherwise requires or as otherwise specified herein.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the information included in this information statement about Spinco assumes the completion of all of the transactions referred to in this information statement in connection with the spin-off. This information statement describes the business to be transferred to Spinco by WDC in the separation as if the transferred business was our business for all historical periods described. References in this information statement to our historical assets, liabilities, products, businesses or activities of our business are generally intended to refer to the historical assets, liabilities, products, businesses or activities of the transferred business as the business was conducted as part of WDC and its subsidiaries prior to the completion of all the transactions referred to in this information statement in connection with the spin-off.

This information statement is being furnished solely to provide information to WDC stockholders who will receive shares of Spinco common stock in the distribution. It is not and is not to be construed as an inducement or encouragement to buy or sell any of Spinco’s securities or any securities of WDC. This information statement describes Spinco’s business, Spinco’s relationship with WDC and how the spin-off affects WDC and its stockholders and provides other information to assist you in evaluating the benefits and risks of holding or disposing of Spinco common stock that you will receive in the distribution. You should be aware of certain risks relating to the spin-off, Spinco’s business and ownership of Spinco common stock, which are described under the section of this information statement entitled “Risk Factors.”

FINANCIAL STATEMENT INFORMATION

This information statement includes certain historical combined financial and other data for Spinco (referred to as the Flash Business of Western Digital Corporation or the Business in the historical combined financial statements and related notes thereto). In connection with the spin-off, Spinco will become the holder of the assets and liabilities of all of WDC’s Flash Business (as defined herein). Spinco is the registrant under the registration statement of which this information statement forms a part and will be the financial reporting entity following the completion of the spin-off. WDC is presently, and will continue to be, a financial reporting entity following the spin-off. This information statement also includes summary unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet data as of September 27, 2024, and summary unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations data for the three months ended September 27, 2024 and the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024, which present our combined financial position and results of operations after giving effect to the separation and distribution, and the other transactions described under “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information.” The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is presented for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the operating results or financial position that would have occurred if the relevant transactions had been consummated on the date indicated, nor is it indicative of future operating results. You should read the section of this information statement entitled “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information” and “Notes to Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information,” which are qualified in their entirety by reference to our combined financial statements and related notes thereto, the consolidated financial statements of WDC and related notes thereto and the financial and other information, including in the sections of this information statement entitled “Risk Factors,” “Capitalization” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

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NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION

This information statement also contains certain financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, Non-GAAP Net income (loss), Free cash flow and Adjusted free cash flow, that are not required by, or prepared in accordance with, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). We refer to these measures as “non-GAAP” financial measures. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Use of Certain Terms” for our definitions of these non-GAAP measures, information about how and why we use these non-GAAP measures and a reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP measures to its most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP.

MARKET, INDUSTRY AND OTHER DATA

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this information statement concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, market opportunity and market share, is based on information from third-party sources, our own analysis of data received from these third-party sources, our own internal data, market research that we commission and management estimates. Our management estimates are derived from publicly available information, our knowledge of our industry and assumptions based on such information and knowledge, which we believe to be reasonable. Assumptions and estimates of our and our industry’s future performance are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described under the section of this information statement entitled “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause future performance to differ materially from our assumptions and estimates. For additional information, see the sections of this information statement entitled “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements.”

TRADEMARKS AND TRADE NAMES

This information statement may contain trade names, trademarks or service marks belonging to other companies. Such trade names, trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners, and we do not intend any use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.

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RISK FACTORS

The risks and uncertainties described below could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections, and could cause the market value of our stock to decline. You should consider these risk factors when evaluating us and our common stock and when reading the rest of this information statement, including the sections entitled “Business” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this document. These risk factors may not include all of the important factors that could affect our business or our industry or that could cause our future financial results to differ materially from historic or expected results or cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate or decline. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial also may impair our business, including our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Flash Business

OPERATIONAL RISKS

Adverse global or regional conditions could harm our business.

A large portion of our revenue is derived from our international operations, and substantially all of our products are produced overseas. As a result, our business depends significantly on global and regional conditions. Adverse changes in global or regional economic conditions, including, but not limited to, volatility in the financial markets, tighter credit, recession, inflation, rising interest rates, slower growth in certain geographic regions, political uncertainty, geopolitical tensions or conflicts, other macroeconomic factors, changes to social conditions and regulations, could significantly harm demand for our products, increase credit and collectability risks, result in revenue reductions, reduce profitability as a result of underutilization of our assets, cause us to change our business practices, increase manufacturing and operating costs or result in impairment charges or other expenses.

Our revenue growth is significantly dependent on the growth of international markets, and we may face challenges in international sales markets. We are subject to risks associated with our global manufacturing operations and global sales efforts, as well as risks associated with our utilization of contract manufacturers, including:

As a result of these risks, our business could be harmed.

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We are dependent on a limited number of qualified suppliers who provide critical services, materials or components, and a disruption in our supply chain could negatively affect our business.

We depend on an external supply base for technologies, software (including firmware), controllers, dynamic random-access memory, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing. We also depend on suppliers for a portion of our wafer testing, chip assembly, product assembly and product testing, and on service suppliers for providing technical support for our products. In addition, we use logistics partners to manage our worldwide just-in-time hubs and distribution centers and to meet our freight needs. Many of the components and much of the equipment we acquire must be specifically designed for use in our products or for developing and manufacturing our products, and are only available from a limited number of suppliers, some of whom are our sole-source suppliers. We therefore depend on these suppliers to meet our business needs including dedicating adequate engineering resources to develop components that can be successfully integrated into our products.

Our suppliers have in the past been, and may in the future be, unable or unwilling to meet our requirements, including as a result of events outside of their control such as trade restrictions (including tariffs, quotas and embargoes), geopolitical conflicts, public health emergencies or natural disasters. If we are unable to purchase sufficient quantities from our current suppliers or qualify and engage additional suppliers, or if we cannot purchase materials at a reasonable price, we may not be able to meet demand for our products. Trade restrictions, including tariffs, quotas and embargoes, demand from other high-volume industries for materials or components used in our products, disruptions in supplier relationships or shortages in other components and materials used in our customers’ products could result in increased costs to us or decreased demand for our products, which could negatively impact our business. Delays, shortages or cost increases experienced by our suppliers in developing or sourcing materials and components for use in our products or incompatibility or quality issues relating to our products, could also harm our business.

We do not have long-term contracts with some of our existing suppliers, nor do we always have guaranteed manufacturing capacity with our suppliers, so we cannot guarantee that they will devote sufficient resources or capacity to manufacturing our products. Any significant problems that occur at our suppliers could lead to product shortages or quality assurance problems. When we do have contractual commitments with suppliers in an effort to stabilize the supply of our components, those commitments may require us to buy a substantial number of components or make significant cash advances to the supplier and may not result in a satisfactory supply of our components. We may cancel or defer outstanding purchase commitments with certain suppliers due to changes in actual and forecasted demand, which may result in fees, penalties and other associated charges. Such cancellations or deferments may also negatively impact our relationships with certain suppliers or lead to a decline in the financial performance of certain suppliers, each of which could result in even more limited availability of components needed for our products.

In addition, our supply base has experienced industry consolidation. Our suppliers may be acquired by our competitors, decide to exit the industry or redirect their investments and increase costs to us. In addition, some of our suppliers have experienced a decline in financial performance, including as a result of canceled or deferred purchase commitments. Where we rely on a limited number of suppliers or a single supplier, the risk of supplier loss due to industry consolidation or a decline in financial performance is increased. Some of our suppliers may also be competitors in other areas of our or their business, which could lead to difficulties in price negotiations or meeting our supply requirements.

Our operations, and those of certain of our suppliers and customers, are subject to substantial risk of damage or disruption.

We conduct our operations at large, high-volume, purpose-built facilities in Japan, Malaysia and throughout Asia. The facilities of many of our customers, our suppliers and our customers’ suppliers are also concentrated in certain geographic locations throughout Asia and elsewhere. If a fire (including a climate change-related fire),

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flood, earthquake, tsunami or other natural disaster, condition or event such as a power outage, contamination event, terrorist attack, cybersecurity incident, physical security breach, political instability, civil unrest, localized labor unrest or other employment issues, or a health epidemic negatively affects any of these facilities, it would significantly affect our ability to manufacture or sell our products and source components and would harm our business. Possible impacts include work and equipment stoppages and damage to or closure of our facilities, or those of our suppliers or customers, for an indefinite period of time. Climate change has in the past and is expected to continue to increase the incidence and severity of certain natural disasters, including wildfires and adverse weather events. In addition, the geographic concentration of our manufacturing sites could exacerbate the negative impacts resulting from any of these problems.

We may incur losses beyond the limits of, or outside the scope of, the coverage of our insurance policies. There can be no assurance that in the future we will be able to maintain existing insurance coverage or that premiums will not increase substantially. Due to market availability, pricing or other reasons, we may elect not to purchase insurance coverage or to purchase only limited coverage. We maintain limited insurance coverage and, in some cases, no coverage at all, for natural disasters and damage to our facilities, as these types of insurance are sometimes not available or available only at a prohibitive cost. Climate change may reduce the availability or increase the cost of certain types of insurance by contributing to an increase in the incidence and severity of certain natural disasters. We depend upon Kioxia to obtain and maintain sufficient property, business interruption and other insurance for Flash Ventures. If Kioxia fails to do so, we could suffer significant unreimbursable losses, and such failure could also cause Flash Ventures to breach various financing covenants.

Public health crises have had, and could in the future have, a negative effect on our business.

Public health crises may negatively impact our workforce and operations, as well as those of our strategic partners, customers, suppliers and logistics providers. Impacts of public health crises may include, without limitation, closures of our manufacturing facilities; under-absorbed overhead; increased logistics, component and other costs; decreased demand for our products; and manufacturing challenges.

The effects of public health crises are uncertain and difficult to predict, but may also include:

The degree to which any public health crises ultimately impact our business will depend on many factors beyond our control, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.

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The loss of our key management, staff and skilled employees; the inability to hire and develop new employees; or decisions to realign our business could negatively impact our business prospects.

Our success depends upon the continued contributions of our talent. Changes in our key management team, including the allocation of key employees between the two companies, may result in loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge, departure of other key employees, disruptions to our operations and inefficiency during transitional periods. Global competition for skilled employees in the technology industry is intense, and our business success is increasingly dependent on our ability to attract, develop and retain top talent; implement succession plans for key management and staff and replace aging skilled employees. We will put retention arrangements in place for key employees to address the uncertainty about our business separation. When these retention payments are made we may suffer further attrition. Changes in immigration policies may also impair our ability to recruit and hire technical and professional talent.

Our ability to hire and retain employees also depends on our ability to build and maintain a diverse and inclusive workplace culture and to fund competitive compensation and benefits, each of which contribute to being viewed as an employer of choice. Additionally, because a substantial portion of our key employees’ compensation is linked to the performance of our business, we may be at a competitive disadvantage for hiring and retaining talent when our operating results are negatively impacted. If we are unable to hire and retain key talent, our operating results would likely be harmed.

We are subject to risks related to product defects, which could result in product recalls or epidemic failures and could subject us to warranty claims in excess of our warranty provisions or which are greater than anticipated, litigation or indemnification claims.

We warrant the majority of our products for periods of one to five years. We test our products in our manufacturing facilities through a variety of means. However, our testing may fail to reveal defects in our products that may not become apparent until after the products have been sold into the market. In addition, our products may be used in a manner that is not intended or anticipated by us, resulting in potential liability. Accordingly, there is a risk that product defects will occur, including as a result of third-party components or applications that we incorporate in our products, which could require a product recall. Product recalls can be expensive to implement. As part of a product recall, we may be required or choose to replace the defective product. Moreover, there is a risk that product defects may trigger an epidemic failure clause in a customer agreement. If an epidemic failure occurs, we may be required to replace or refund the value of the defective product and to cover certain other costs associated with the consequences of the epidemic failure. In addition, product defects, product recalls or epidemic failures may cause damage to our reputation or customer relationships, lost revenue, indemnification for a recall of our customers’ products, warranty claims, litigation or loss of market share with our customers, including our original equipment manufacturer and original design manufacturer customers. Our business liability insurance may be inadequate or future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Our standard warranties contain limits on damages and exclusions of liability for consequential damages and for misuse, improper installation, alteration, accident or mishandling while in the possession of someone other than us. We record an accrual for estimated warranty costs at the time revenue is recognized. We may incur additional expenses if our warranty provisions do not reflect the actual cost of resolving issues related to defects in our products, whether as a result of a product recall, epidemic failure or otherwise. If these additional expenses are significant, they could harm our business.

The compromise, damage or interruption of our technology infrastructure, systems or products by cyber incidents, data security breaches, other security problems, design defects or system failures could have a material negative impact on our business.

We experience cyber incidents of varying degrees on our technology infrastructure and systems and, as a result, unauthorized parties may obtain access to our computer systems and networks, including cloud-based platforms.

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For example, an unauthorized third-party gained access to a number of WDC’s systems in March 2023, which caused disruption to parts of WDC’s business operations and resulted in various investigation, recovery and remediation expenses. In addition, the technology infrastructure and systems of some of our suppliers, vendors, service providers, cloud solution providers and partners have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, such incidents. Cyber incidents can be caused by ransomware, computer denial-of-service attacks, worms and other malicious software programs or other attacks, including the covert introduction of malware to computers and networks, and the use of techniques or processes that change frequently, may be disguised or difficult to detect, or are designed to remain dormant until a triggering event, and may continue undetected for an extended period of time. Cyber incidents may result from, social engineering or impersonation of authorized users, and may also result from efforts to discover and exploit any design flaws, bugs, security vulnerabilities or security weaknesses, intentional or unintentional acts by employees or other insiders with access privileges, intentional acts of vandalism or fraud by third parties and sabotage. In some instances, efforts to correct vulnerabilities or prevent incidents may reduce the functionality or performance of our computer systems and networks, which could negatively impact our business. We believe malicious cyber acts are increasing in number and that cyber threat actors are increasingly organized and well-financed or supported by state actors, and are developing increasingly sophisticated systems and means to not only infiltrate systems, but also to evade detection or to obscure their activities. Geopolitical tensions or conflicts may create heightened risk of cyber incidents.

Our products are also targets for malicious cyber acts, including those products utilized in cloud-based environments. While some of our products contain encryption or security algorithms to protect third-party content or user-generated data stored on our products, these products could still be hacked or the encryption schemes could be compromised, breached or circumvented by motivated and sophisticated attackers, which could harm our business by exposing us to litigation and indemnification claims and hurting our reputation. If efforts to breach our infrastructure, systems or products are successful or we are unable to protect against these risks, we could suffer interruptions, delays or cessation of operations of our systems, and loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information, IP or sensitive or personal information. For example, as a result of a network security incident in March 2023, an unauthorized party obtained a copy of a WDC database used for WDC’s online store that contained some personal information of our online store customers. Compromises of our infrastructure, systems or products could also cause our customers and other affected third parties to suffer loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information, IP or sensitive or personal information, and could harm our relationships with customers and other third parties and subject us to liability. As a result of actual or perceived breaches, we may experience additional costs, notification requirements, civil and administrative fines and penalties, indemnification claims, litigation or damage to our brand and reputation. All of these consequences could harm our reputation and our business and materially and negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

BUSINESS AND STRATEGIC RISKS

We rely substantially on strategic relationships with various partners, including Kioxia, which subjects us to risks and uncertainties that could harm our business.

We have entered into and expect to continue to enter into strategic relationships with various partners for product development, manufacturing, sales growth and the supply of technologies, components, equipment and materials for use in our product design and manufacturing, including our business ventures with Kioxia. We depend on Flash Ventures for the development and manufacture of flash-based memory. Our strategic relationships, including Flash Ventures, are subject to various risks that could harm the value of our investments, our revenue and costs, our future rate of spending, our technology plans and our future growth opportunities.

The terms of our agreements with Kioxia with respect to the Flash Ventures requires that substantially all of our flash-based memory be obtained from Flash Ventures, which limits our ability to respond to market demand and supply changes and makes our financial results particularly susceptible to variations from our forecasts and expectations. For example, we are contractually obligated to pay for 50% of the fixed costs of Flash Ventures

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regardless of whether we order any flash-based memory, and our orders placed with Flash Ventures on a rolling basis are binding. As a result, a failure to accurately forecast supply and demand could cause us to over-invest or under-invest in inventory, technology transitions or the expansion of Flash Ventures’ capacity. Over-investment by us or our competitors can result in excess supply and lead to significant decreases in our product prices, significant excess, obsolete inventory or inventory write-downs or underutilization charges, and the potential impairment of our investments in Flash Ventures. For example, in 2023, we incurred $296 million in charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs as a result of reduced utilization of our manufacturing capacity and $108 million in charges to write down our inventory as a result of decreases in market pricing. These charges were attributable to a significant imbalance of supply and demand and our actions taken in response thereto. On the other hand, if we under-invest in Flash Ventures, or otherwise grow or transition Flash Ventures’ capacity too slowly, we may not have enough supply of flash-based memory, or the right type of flash-based memory, to meet demand on a timely and cost effective basis, and we may lose opportunities for revenue, gross margin and market share as a result. If our supply is limited, we might make strategic decisions with respect to the allocation of our supply among our products and customers, which could result in less favorable gross margins or damage customer relationships. In addition, while Flash Ventures is operating, our agreements with Kioxia preclude us from working with third parties to manufacture flash-based memory or from fabricating flash-based memory beyond the capacity specified in the agreements, or from manufacturing flash-based memory ourselves except to the extent that we acquire any manufacturing capacity of a Flash Ventures entity as a result of that entity’s dissolution, termination of its joint venture agreements or acquisition by us. This could also impair our ability to consolidate with other industry participants who manufacture flash-based memory.

Our control over the operations of our business ventures may be limited, and our interests could diverge from our strategic partners’ interests regarding ongoing and future activities. For example, each Flash Ventures entity operates for a defined period of time agreed upon between the joint venture partners. Absent further extensions as mutually agreed between us and Kioxia, Flash Partners Ltd. and Flash Alliance Ltd. are currently set to expire on December 31, 2029, and Flash Forward Ltd. is currently set to expire on December 31, 2034. Each Flash Ventures entity’s joint venture agreements may also earlier terminate upon the occurrence of certain specified events, including earlier dissolution by agreement of the parties or an event of default or bankruptcy. Upon the expiration of a Flash Ventures entity’s joint venture agreements, whenever that may occur, the applicable Flash Ventures entity will commence a wind-up process and be dissolved. Net proceeds from the dissolution will be distributed in kind or cash to us and Kioxia on a pro rata basis based on our respective ownership positions. The applicable Flash Venture entity will continue to operate during the period of winding up. Although we and Kioxia have agreed to extend the operating period for each Flash Ventures entity since the start of Flash Ventures, there is a risk that we and Kioxia will be unable to agree on a further extension of one or more of the Flash Ventures entities. Additionally, under the Flash Ventures agreements, we cannot unilaterally direct most of Flash Ventures’ activities, and we have limited ability to source or fabricate flash outside of Flash Ventures. Flash Ventures requires significant investments by both Kioxia and us for technology transitions and capacity expansions, and our business could be harmed if our technology roadmap and investment plans are not sufficiently aligned with Kioxia’s. Lack of alignment with Kioxia with respect to Flash Ventures could negatively impact our ability to react quickly to changes in the market, or to stay at the forefront of technological advancement. Misalignment could arise due to changes in Kioxia’s strategic priorities, management, ownership or access to capital, which have changed in recent years and could continue to change. Kioxia’s stakeholders may include, or have included in the past, competitors, customers, a private equity firm, government entities or public stockholders. Kioxia’s management changes, ownership and capital structure could lead to delays in decision-making, disputes or changes in strategic direction that could negatively impact the strategic partnership, and therefore us. There may exist conflicts of interest between Kioxia’s stakeholders and Flash Ventures or us with respect to, among other things, protecting and growing Flash Ventures’ business, intellectual property and competitively sensitive confidential information.

Together with Kioxia, we fund a portion of the investments required for Flash Ventures through lease financings. Continued availability of lease financings for Flash Ventures is not guaranteed and could be limited by several factors, including investor capacity and risk allocation policies, our or Kioxia’s financial performance and

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changes to our or Kioxia’s business, ownership or corporate structure. To the extent that lease financings are not accessible on favorable terms or at all, more cash would be required to fund investments.

Our strategic relationships are subject to additional risks that could harm our business, including, but not limited to, the following:

We participate in a highly competitive industry that is subject to declining average selling prices, volatile demand, rapid technological change and industry consolidation, as well as lengthy product qualifications, all of which can negatively impact our business.

Demand for our devices, software and solutions, which we refer to in this “Risk Factors” section as our “products,” depends in large part on the demand for systems manufactured by our customers and on storage upgrades to existing systems. The demand for systems has been volatile in the past and often has had an exaggerated effect on the demand for our products in any given period. Demand for and prices of our products are influenced by, among other factors, actual and projected data growth, the balance between supply and demand in the storage market, including the effects of new fab capacity, macroeconomic factors, business conditions, technology transitions and other actions taken by us or our competitors. The storage market has recently experienced, and may continue to experience, periods of excess capacity leading to liquidation of excess inventories, inventory write-downs, significant reductions in average selling prices and negative impacts on our revenue and gross margins, and volatile product life cycles that harm our ability to recover the cost of product development.

Further, our average selling prices and gross margins tend to decline when there is a shift in the mix of product sales to lower priced products. We have faced declining gross margins relating to the flash business in the past, and may face potential gross margin pressures in the future, resulting from our average selling prices declining more rapidly than our cost of revenue. Rapid technological changes often reduce the volume and profitability of sales of existing products and increase the risk of inventory obsolescence and write-downs. Finally, the data storage industry has experienced consolidation over the past several years, which could enhance the resources and lower the cost structure of some competitors. These factors could result in a substantial decrease in our market share and harm our business.

As we compete in new product areas, the overall complexity of our business may increase and may result in increases in research and development expenses and substantial investments in manufacturing capability, technology enhancements and go-to-market capability. We must also qualify our products with customers through potentially lengthy testing processes with uncertain results. Some of our competitors offer products that we do not offer, which may allow them to win sales from us, and some of our customers may be developing storage solutions internally, which may reduce their demand for our products. We expect that competition will continue to be intense, and our competitors may be able to gain a product offering or cost structure advantage

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over us, which would harm our business. Further, our competitors may utilize pricing strategies, including offering products at prices at or below cost, that we may be unable to competitively match. We may also have difficulty effectively competing with manufacturers benefiting from governmental investments and may be subject to increased complexity and reduced efficiency in our supply chain as a result of governmental efforts to promote domestic semiconductor industries in various jurisdictions.

If we do not properly manage technology transitions and product development and introduction, our competitiveness and operating results may be negatively affected.

The markets for our products continuously undergo technology transitions that may impact our product roadmaps and that we must anticipate in order to adapt our existing products or develop new products effectively. If we fail to adapt to or implement new technologies or develop new products desired by our customers quickly and cost-effectively, or if technology transitions negatively impact our existing product roadmaps, our business may be harmed.

In addition, the success of our technology transitions and product development depends on a number of other factors, including:

Moving to new technologies and products may require us to align to, and build, a new supply base. Our success in new product areas may depend on our ability to enter into favorable supply agreements. In addition, if our customers choose to delay transition to new technologies, if demand for the products that we develop is lower than expected or if the supporting technologies to implement these new technologies are not available, we may be unable to achieve the cost structure required to support our profit objectives or may be unable to grow or maintain our market position.

Additionally, new technologies could impact demand for our products in unforeseen or unexpected ways and new products could substitute for our current products and make them obsolete, each of which would harm our business. We also develop products to meet certain industry and technical standards, which may change and cause us to incur substantial costs as we adapt to new standards or invest in different manufacturing processes to remain competitive.

We experience sales seasonality and cyclicality, which could cause our operating results to fluctuate. In addition, accurately forecasting demand has become more difficult, which could harm our business.

Sales of many of our products tend to be seasonal and subject to supply-demand cycles. Changes in seasonal and cyclical supply and demand patterns have made it, and could continue to make it, more difficult for us to forecast demand. Changes in the product or channel mix of our business may also impact seasonal and cyclical patterns. For example, we often ship a high percentage of our total quarterly sales in the third month of the quarter, which makes it difficult for us to forecast our financial results before the end of each quarter. As a result of the above or other factors, our forecast of financial results for a given quarter may differ materially from our actual financial results.

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The variety and volume of products we manufacture are based in part on accurately forecasting market and customer demand for our products. Accurately forecasting demand has become increasingly difficult for us, our customers and our suppliers due to volatility in global economic conditions, end market dynamics and industry consolidation, resulting in less availability of historical market data for certain product segments. Further, for many of our original equipment manufacturer customers utilizing just-in-time inventory, we do not generally require firm order commitments and instead receive a periodic forecast of requirements, which may prove to be inaccurate. In addition, because our products are designed to be largely interchangeable with competitors’ products, our demand forecasts may be impacted significantly by the strategic actions of our competitors. As forecasting demand becomes more difficult, the risk that our forecasts are not in line with demand increases. This has caused, and may in the future cause, our forecasts to exceed actual market demand, resulting in periods of product oversupply, excess inventory, underutilization of manufacturing capacity and price decreases, which has impacted and could further impact our sales, average selling prices and gross margin or require us to incur additional inventory write-downs or additional charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead, thereby negatively affecting our operating results and our financial condition. For example, in 2023, we incurred $296 million in charges for unabsorbed manufacturing overhead costs as a result of reduced utilization of our manufacturing capacity and $108 million in charges to write down our inventory as a result of decreases in market pricing. These charges were attributable to a significant imbalance of supply and demand and our actions taken in response thereto. If market demand increases significantly beyond our forecasts or beyond our ability to add manufacturing capacity, then we may not be able to satisfy customer product needs, possibly resulting in a loss of market share if our competitors are able to meet customer demands. In addition, some of our components have long lead-times, requiring us to place orders several months in advance of anticipated demand. Such long lead-times increase the risk of excess inventory, potentially resulting in inventory write-downs or loss of sales in the event our forecasts vary substantially from actual demand.

Failure to successfully execute on strategic initiatives including acquisitions, divestitures or cost saving measures may negatively impact our future results.

We may make acquisitions and divestitures and engage in cost saving measures. In order to successfully execute on strategic initiatives, we must successfully complete attractive transactions, some of which may be large and complex, and manage post-closing issues such as integration of the acquired company or employees and integration of processes and systems. We may not be able to identify or complete appealing acquisition or investment opportunities given the intense competition for these transactions. Even if we identify and complete suitable corporate transactions, we may not be able to successfully address any integration challenges in a timely manner, or at all. There may be difficulties with implementing new systems and processes or with integrating systems and processes of companies with complex operations, which may result in inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies and may increase the risk that our internal controls are found to be ineffective.

Failing to successfully integrate or realign our business to take advantage of efficiencies or reduce redundancies of an acquisition may result in not realizing all or any of the anticipated benefits of the acquisition. In addition, failing to achieve the financial model projections for an acquisition or changes in technology development and related roadmaps following an acquisition may result in the incurrence of impairment charges (including goodwill impairments or other asset write-downs) and other expenses, both of which could negatively impact our results of operations or financial condition. Acquisitions and investments may also result in the issuance of equity securities that may be dilutive to our stockholders as well as earn-out or other contingent consideration payments and the issuance of additional indebtedness that would put additional pressure on liquidity. Furthermore, we may agree to provide continuing service obligations or enter into other agreements in order to obtain certain regulatory approvals of our corporate transactions, and failure to satisfy these additional obligations could result in our failing to obtain regulatory approvals or the imposition of additional obligations on us, any of which could negatively affect our business. In addition, new legislation or additional regulations may affect or impair our ability to invest with or in certain other countries or require us to obtain regulatory approvals to do so, including investments in joint ventures, minority investments and outbound technology transfers to certain countries.

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Cost saving measures, restructurings and divestitures may result in workforce reduction and consolidation of our manufacturing or other facilities. As a result of these actions, we may experience a loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge, disruptions to our operations and inefficiency during transitional periods. These actions could also impact employee retention. In addition, we cannot be sure that these actions will be as successful in reducing our overall expenses as we expect, that additional costs will not offset any such reductions or consolidations or that we do not forgo future business opportunities as a result of these actions.

Acquisitions and alliance activities inherently involve other risks as well. Additional risks we may encounter include those associated with:

Loss of revenue from a key customer, or consolidation among our customer base, could harm our operating results.

For 2024, 2023 and 2022, 41%, 47% and 47%, respectively, of our total revenue came from sales to our top ten customers. These customers have a variety of suppliers to choose from and therefore can make substantial demands on us, including demands on product pricing, contractual terms and the environmental impact and attributes of our products, often resulting in the allocation of risk or increased costs to us as the supplier. Our ability to maintain strong relationships with our principal customers is essential to our future performance. We may experience events such as the loss of a key customer, prohibition or restriction of sales to a key customer by law, regulation or other government action, reductions in sales to or orders by a key customer, customer requirements to reduce our prices before we are able to reduce costs or the acquisition of a key customer by one of our competitors. These events may impact, our operating results and financial condition. Further, government authorities may implement laws or regulations or take other actions that could result in significant changes to the business or operating models of our customers. Such changes could negatively impact our operating results.

Additionally, if there is consolidation among our customer base, our customers may be able to command increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could negatively impact our profitability. Consolidation among our customer base may also lead to reduced demand for our products, increased customer pressure on our prices, replacement of our products by the combined entity with those of our competitors and cancellations of orders, each of which could harm our operating results.

Also, the storage ecosystem is constantly evolving, and our traditional customer base is changing. Fewer companies now hold greater market share for certain applications and services, such as cloud storage and computing platforms, mobile, social media, shopping and streaming media. As a result, the competitive landscape is changing, giving these companies increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could negatively impact our profitability. In addition, the changes in our evolving customer base create new selling and distribution patterns to which we must adapt. To remain competitive, we must respond to these changes by ensuring we have proper scale in this evolving market, as well as offer products that meet the technological requirements of this customer base at competitive pricing points. To the extent we are not successful in adequately responding to these changes, our operating results and financial condition could be harmed.

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Sales in the distribution channel and to the retail market are important to our business, and if we fail to respond to demand changes within these markets, or maintain and grow our applicable market share, our business could suffer.

Our distribution customers typically sell to small computer manufacturers, dealers, systems integrators and other resellers. We face significant competition in this channel as a result of limited product qualification programs and a significant focus on price and availability of product. As a result of the shift to mobile devices, more computing devices are being delivered to the market as complete systems, which could weaken the distribution market. If we fail to respond to changes in demand in the distribution market, our business could suffer. Additionally, if the distribution market weakens as a result of technology transitions or a significant change in consumer buying preference, or if we experience significant price declines due to demand changes in the distribution channel, our operating results would be negatively impacted. Negative changes in the creditworthiness or the ability to access credit, or the bankruptcy or shutdown of any of our significant retail or distribution partners would harm our revenue and our ability to collect outstanding receivable balances.

A significant portion of our sales is also made through retailers. Our success in the retail market depends in large part on our ability to maintain our brand image and corporate reputation and to expand into and gain market acceptance of our products in multiple retail market channels. Particularly in the retail market, negative publicity, whether or not justified, or allegations of product or service quality issues, even if false or unfounded, could damage our reputation and cause our customers to choose products offered by our competitors. Further, changes to the retail environment, such as store closures caused by macroeconomic conditions or changing customer preferences, may reduce the demand for our products. If customers no longer maintain a preference for our product brands or if our retailers are not successful in selling our products, our operating results may be negatively impacted.

FINANCIAL RISKS

Our level of debt may negatively impact our liquidity, restrict our operations and ability to respond to business opportunities and increase our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions.

In connection with the separation, we expect to incur and utilize debt financing in our capital structure, and in the future, we may incur additional debt. The amount of debt may be substantial and may be on terms less favorable to us than those historically provided to WDC. Our anticipated level of debt could have significant consequences, which may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Our ability to meet our anticipated debt service obligations, comply with our anticipated debt covenants and deleverage will depend on our cash flows and financial performance, which will be affected by financial, business, economic and other factors. The rate at which we will be able to or choose to deleverage is uncertain. Failure to meet our anticipated debt service obligations or comply with our anticipated debt covenants could

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result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. We may be unable to cure, or obtain a waiver of, an event of default or otherwise amend our debt agreements to prevent an event of default thereunder on terms acceptable to us or at all. In that event, the debt holders could accelerate the related debt, which may result in the cross-acceleration or cross-default of other debt, leases or other obligations. If we do not have sufficient funds available to repay indebtedness when due, whether at maturity or by acceleration, we may be required to sell important strategic assets; refinance such debt; incur additional debt or issue common stock or other equity securities, which we may not be able to do on terms acceptable to us, in amounts sufficient to meet our needs or at all. Our inability to service our anticipated debt obligations or refinance our anticipated debt could harm our business. Further, if we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure any of our anticipated indebtedness that is secured, the holder of such debt could proceed against the collateral securing the indebtedness. Refinancing our anticipated indebtedness may also require us to expense previous debt issuance costs or to incur new debt issuance costs.

Our anticipated financing arrangements may include bank debt containing a variable interest rate component based on our corporate credit ratings, and a decline in our ratings could result in increased interest rates and debt service obligations. In addition, our ratings will impact the cost and availability of future borrowings and, accordingly, our cost of capital. Our ratings will reflect the opinions of the ratings agencies as to our financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet our debt obligations. There can be no assurance that we will achieve a particular rating or maintain a particular rating in the future.

We also guarantee a significant amount of lease obligations of Flash Ventures owed to third parties. Flash Ventures sells to and leases back a portion of its equipment from a consortium of financial institutions. Most of the lease obligations are guaranteed 50% by us and 50% by Kioxia. Some of the lease obligations are guaranteed in full by us. The leases are subject to customary covenants and cancellation events that relate to Flash Ventures and each of the guarantors. If a cancellation event were to occur, Flash Ventures would be required to negotiate a resolution with the other parties to the lease transactions to avoid cancellation and acceleration of the lease obligations. Such resolution could include, among other things, supplementary security to be supplied by us, increased interest rates or waiver fees. If a resolution is not reached, we may be required to pay all of the outstanding lease obligations covered by our guarantees, which would significantly reduce our cash position and may force us to seek additional financing, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

We may from time to time seek to further refinance our anticipated indebtedness by issuing additional shares of common stock or other securities that are convertible into common stock or grant the holder the right to purchase common stock, each of which may dilute our existing stockholders, reduce the value of our common stock, or both.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates as a result of our international operations may negatively affect our operating results.

Because we manufacture and sell our products abroad, our revenue, cost of revenue, margins, operating costs and cash flows are impacted by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. If the U.S. dollar exhibits sustained weakness against most foreign currencies, the U.S. dollar equivalents of unhedged manufacturing costs could increase because a significant portion of our production costs are foreign-currency denominated. Conversely, there would not be an offsetting impact to revenues since revenues are substantially U.S. dollar denominated. Additionally, we negotiate and procure some of our component requirements in U.S. dollars from non-U.S. based vendors. If the U.S. dollar weakens against other foreign currencies, some of our component suppliers may increase the price they charge for their components in order to maintain an equivalent profit margin. In addition, our purchases of flash-based memory from Flash Ventures and our investment in Flash Ventures are denominated in Japanese yen. If the Japanese yen appreciates against the U.S. dollar, our cost of purchasing flash-based memory wafers and the cost to us of future capital funding of Flash Ventures would increase. When such events occur, they have had, and may in the future have, a negative impact on our business.

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Prices for our products are substantially U.S. dollar denominated, even when sold to customers that are located outside the U.S. Therefore, as a substantial portion of our sales are from countries outside the U.S., fluctuations in currency exchanges rates, most notably the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other foreign currencies, contribute to variations in sales of products in impacted jurisdictions and could negatively impact demand and revenue growth. In addition, currency variations may adversely affect margins on sales of our products in countries outside the U.S.

We attempt to manage the impact of foreign currency exchange rate changes by, among other things, entering into short-term foreign exchange contracts. However, these contracts may not cover our full exposure and can be canceled by the counterparty if currency controls are put in place. Thus, our decisions and hedging strategy with respect to currency risks may not be successful and may actually harm our operating results. Further, the ability to enter into foreign exchange contracts with financial institutions is based upon our available credit from such institutions and compliance with covenants and other restrictions. Operating losses, third-party downgrades of our credit rating or instability in the worldwide financial markets could impact our ability to effectively manage our foreign currency exchange rate risk. Hedging also exposes us to the credit risk of our counterparty financial institutions.

Increases in our customers’ credit risk could result in credit losses and term extensions under existing contracts with customers with credit losses could result in an increase in our operating costs.

Some of our original equipment manufacturer customers have adopted a subcontractor model that requires us to contract directly with companies, such as original design manufacturers, that provide manufacturing and fulfillment services to our original equipment manufacturer customers. Because these subcontractors are generally not as well capitalized as our direct original equipment manufacturer customers, this subcontractor model exposes us to increased credit risks. Our agreements with our original equipment manufacturer customers may not permit us to increase our product prices to alleviate this increased credit risk. Additionally, as we attempt to expand our original equipment manufacturer and distribution channel sales into emerging economies, the customers with the most success in these regions may have relatively short operating histories, making it more difficult for us to accurately assess the associated credit risks. Our customers’ credit risk may also be exacerbated by an economic downturn or other adverse global or regional economic conditions. Any credit losses we may suffer as a result of these increased risks, or as a result of credit losses from any significant customer, especially in situations where there are term extensions under existing contracts with such customers, would increase our operating costs, which may negatively impact our operating results.

LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE RISKS

We are subject to laws, rules and regulations relating to the collection, use, sharing and security of data, including personal data, and our failure to comply with these laws, rules and regulations could subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others and cause us to incur penalties, significant legal liability, or loss of customers, loss of revenue and reputational harm.

We are subject to laws, rules and regulations relating to the collection, use, security and privacy of third-party data, including data that relates to or identifies an individual person. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and obligations to third parties related to privacy, data protection and cybersecurity. In many cases, these requirements apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between us and our subsidiaries, and among us, our subsidiaries and other parties with which we have commercial relations. Our possession and use of third-party data, including personal data and employee data in conducting our business, subjects us to legal and regulatory burdens that require us to notify vendors, customers or employees or other parties with which we have commercial relations of a data security breach and to respond to regulatory inquiries and to enforcement proceedings. Laws and regulations relating to the collection, use, security and privacy of third-party data change over time and new laws and regulations become effective from time to time. We are subject to notice and privacy policy requirements, as well as obligations to respond to requests to

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know and access personal information, correct personal information, delete personal information and say no to the sale of personal information. Global privacy and data protection legislation, enforcement and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and evolving and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. We may also be subject to restrictions on cross-border data transfers and requirements for localized storage of data that could increase our compliance costs and risks and affect the ability of our global operations to coordinate activities and respond to customers. Compliance requirements or even our inadvertent failure to comply with applicable laws may cause us to incur substantial costs, subject us to proceedings by governmental entities or others, and cause us to incur penalties or other significant legal liability or lead us to change our business practices.

We are or may in the future be subject to state, federal and international legal and regulatory requirements, such as environmental, labor, health and safety, trade and public-company reporting and disclosure regulations, customers’ standards of corporate citizenship and industry and coalition standards, such as those established by the Responsible Business Alliance (“RBA”), and compliance with those regulations and requirements could cause an increase in our operating costs and failure to comply may harm our business.

We are subject to, and may become subject to additional, state, federal and international laws and regulations governing our environmental, labor, trade, health and safety practices and public-company reporting and disclosures requirements. These laws and regulations, particularly those applicable to our international operations, are or may be complex, extensive and subject to change. We will need to ensure that we and our suppliers, customers and partners timely comply with such laws and regulations, which may result in an increase in our operating costs. Legislation has been, and may in the future be, enacted in locations where we manufacture or sell our products, which could impair our ability to conduct business in certain jurisdictions or with certain customers and harm our operating results. In addition, climate change and financial reform legislation is a significant topic of discussion and has generated and may continue to generate federal, international or other regulatory responses in the near future, which could substantially increase the complexity of our public-company reporting and disclosure requirements and our compliance and operating costs. If we or our suppliers, customers or partners fail to timely comply with applicable legislation, certain customers may refuse to purchase our products or we may face increased operating costs as a result of taxes, fines or penalties, or legal liability and reputational damage, which could harm our business.

In connection with our compliance with environmental laws and regulations, as well as our compliance with industry and coalition environmental initiatives, such as those established by the RBA, the standards of business conduct required by some of our customers, and our commitment to sound corporate citizenship in all aspects of our business, we could incur substantial compliance and operating costs and be subject to disruptions to our operations and logistics. In addition, if we or our suppliers, customers or partners were found to be in violation of these laws or noncompliant with these initiatives or standards of conduct, we could be subject to governmental fines, liability to our customers and damage to our reputation and corporate brand, which could cause our financial condition and operating results to suffer.

Our aspirations, disclosures and actions related to environmental, social and governance matters expose us to risks that could adversely affect our reputation and performance.

There is an increased focus from investors, customers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders concerning environmental, social and governance matters, and we may announce initiatives and goals related to environmental, social and governance matters from time to time, including renewable energy and net zero emissions commitments. These statements reflect our current plans and aspirations and are not guarantees that we will be able to achieve them. Our ability to achieve any environmental, social and governance objective is subject to numerous risks, many of which are outside of our control, including the availability and cost of alternative energy sources; the evolving regulatory and reporting requirements affecting environmental, social and governance practices and disclosures; the locations and usage of our products and the implications on their greenhouse gas emissions; and the successful execution of our strategy. Our failure to accomplish or accurately

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track and report on these goals on a timely basis, or at all, and the potential added costs involved, could adversely affect our reputation; financial performance and growth; our ability to attract or retain talent; and our attractiveness as a business partner or supplier, and could expose us to increased litigation risk, as well as increased scrutiny from the investment community and enforcement authorities.

We and certain of our officers may at times be involved in litigation, investigations and governmental proceedings, which may be costly, may divert the efforts of our key personnel and could result in adverse court rulings, fines or penalties, which could materially harm our business.

From time to time, we may be involved in litigation, including antitrust and commercial matters, putative securities class action suits and other actions. We may be the plaintiff in some of these actions and the defendant in others. Some of the actions may seek injunctive relief, including injunctions against the sale of our products, and substantial monetary damages, which if granted or awarded, could materially harm our business. From time to time, we may also be the subject of inquiries, requests for information, investigations and actions by government and regulatory agencies regarding our business. Any such matters could result in material adverse consequences to our results of operations, financial condition or ability to conduct our business, including fines, penalties or restrictions on our business activities.

Litigation is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. In the event of an adverse outcome in any litigation, investigation or governmental proceeding, we could be required to pay substantial damages, fines or penalties and cease certain practices or activities, including the manufacture, use and sale of products. With or without merit, such matters may be complex, may extend for a protracted period of time, may be very expensive and the expense may be unpredictable. Litigation initiated by us could also result in counter-claims against us, which could increase the costs associated with the litigation and result in our payment of damages or other judgments against us. In addition, litigation, investigations or governmental proceedings and any related publicity may divert the efforts and attention of some of our key personnel, affect demand for our products and harm the market prices of our securities.

We may be obligated to indemnify our current or former directors or employees, or former directors or employees of companies that we have acquired, in connection with litigation, investigations or governmental proceedings. These liabilities could be substantial and may include, among other things: the costs of defending lawsuits against these individuals; the cost of defending shareholder derivative suits; the cost of governmental, law enforcement or regulatory investigations or proceedings; civil or criminal fines and penalties; legal and other expenses; and expenses associated with the remedial measures, if any, which may be imposed.

The nature of our industry and its reliance on intellectual property and other proprietary information subjects us and our suppliers, customers and partners to the risk of significant litigation.

The data storage industry has been characterized by significant litigation. This includes litigation relating to patent and other intellectual property rights, product liability claims and other types of litigation. We have historically been involved in frequent disputes regarding patent and other intellectual property rights, and we and our customers have in the past received, and we and our customers may in the future receive, communications from third parties asserting that certain of our products, processes or technologies infringe upon their patent rights, copyrights, trademark rights or other intellectual property rights. Even if we believe that such claims are without merit, they may be time-consuming and costly to defend against and may divert management’s attention and resources away from our business. We may also receive claims of potential infringement if we attempt to license intellectual property to others. Intellectual property risks increase when we enter into new markets where we have little or no intellectual property protection as a deterrent against litigation. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation increase the intellectual property risks we face. Litigation may be expensive, lengthy and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of litigation are inherently uncertain and may result in adverse rulings or decisions. We may be subject to injunctions, enter into settlements or be subject to judgments that may harm our business.

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If we incorporate third-party technology into our products or if claims or actions are asserted against us for alleged infringement of the intellectual property of others, we may be required to obtain a license or cross-license, modify our existing technology or design a new non-infringing technology. Such licenses or design modifications may be extremely costly. We evaluate notices of alleged patent infringement and notices of patents from patent holders that we receive from time to time. We may decide to settle a claim or action against us, which settlement could be costly. We may also be liable for past infringement. If there is an adverse ruling against us in an infringement lawsuit, an injunction could be issued barring production or sale of any infringing product. It could also result in a damage award equal to a reasonable royalty or lost profits or, if there is a finding of willful infringement, treble damages. Any of these results would increase our costs and harm our operating results. In addition, our suppliers, customers and partners are subject to similar risks of litigation, and a material, adverse ruling against a supplier, customer or partner could negatively impact our business.

Moreover, from time to time, we agree to indemnify certain of our suppliers and customers for alleged intellectual property infringement. The scope of such indemnity varies but may include indemnification for direct and consequential damages and expenses, including attorneys’ fees. We may be engaged in litigation as a result of these indemnification obligations. Third-party claims for patent infringement are excluded from coverage under our insurance policies. A future obligation to indemnify our customers or suppliers may harm our business.

Our reliance on intellectual property and other proprietary information subjects us to the risk that these key components of our business could be copied by competitors.

Our success depends, in significant part, on the proprietary nature of our technology, including non-patentable intellectual property such as our process technology. If we fail to protect our technology, intellectual property or contract rights, our customers and others may seek to use our technology and intellectual property without the payment of license fees and royalties, which could weaken our competitive position, reduce our operating results and increase the likelihood of costly litigation. We primarily rely on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as non-disclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our proprietary technologies and processes. There can be no assurance that our existing patents will continue to be held valid, if challenged, or that they will have sufficient scope or strength to protect us. It is also possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose, illegally or otherwise, our proprietary technologies and processes, despite our efforts to protect our proprietary technologies and processes. If a competitor is able to reproduce or otherwise capitalize on our technology despite the safeguards we have in place, it may be difficult, expensive or impossible for us to obtain necessary legal protection. There are entities whom we believe may infringe our IP. Enforcement of our rights often requires litigation. If we bring a patent infringement action and are not successful, our competitors may be able to use similar technology to compete with us. Moreover, the defendant in such an action may successfully countersue us for infringement of their patents or assert a counterclaim that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. Also, the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our intellectual property to the same extent as do U.S. laws. In addition to patent protection of intellectual property rights, we consider elements of our product designs and processes to be proprietary and confidential. We rely upon employee, consultant and vendor non-disclosure agreements and contractual provisions and a system of internal safeguards to protect our proprietary information. However, we cannot be certain that these contracts and safeguards have not been and will not be breached, that we will be able to timely detect unauthorized use or transfer of our technology and intellectual property, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, or that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. Any of our registered or unregistered intellectual property rights may be challenged or exploited by others in the industry, which could harm our operating results.

Maintaining and strengthening our brands are important to maintaining and expanding our business, as well as to our ability to enter into new markets for our technologies, products and services. The success of our brands depends in part on the positive image that consumers have of our brands. We believe the popularity of our brands makes them a target of counterfeiting or imitation, with third parties attempting to pass off counterfeit products as our products. Any occurrence of counterfeiting, imitation or confusion with our brands could negatively affect

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our reputation and impair the value of our brands, which in turn could negatively impact sales of our branded products, our share and our gross margin, as well as increase our administrative costs related to brand protection and counterfeit detection and prosecution. Additionally, our ability to prevent unauthorized uses of our brands and technologies would be negatively impacted if our trademark registrations were successfully challenged or overturned in the jurisdictions where we do business. We also have trademark applications pending in a number of jurisdictions that may not ultimately be granted, or if granted, may be challenged or invalidated, in which case we would be unable to prevent unauthorized use of our brands and logos in such jurisdictions. We have not filed trademark registrations in all jurisdictions where our brands or logos may be used.

Risks Related to the Spin-Off

We may not achieve some or all of the expected benefits of the spin-off, and the spin-off may adversely impact our business.

We may not realize any strategic, financial, operational or other benefits from the spin-off. We cannot predict with certainty if or when anticipated benefits will occur or the extent to which they will be achieved. Following the completion of the spin-off, our operational and financial profile will change and we will face new risks. Following the completion of the spin-off, we will be a smaller and less-diversified company compared to WDC prior to the spin-off, and may be more vulnerable to changing market conditions. While we believe that the spin-off will position each company to better unlock its full standalone long-term potential, we cannot assure you that following the spin-off we will be successful. Further, there can be no assurance that the combined value of the shares of the two resulting companies will be equal to or greater than what the value of our common stock would have been had the spin-off not occurred. After the spin-off, WDC or we may offer products or engage in businesses that compete with the other company’s products or businesses. Under the separation and distribution agreement between WDC and Spinco, WDC will be subject to certain limited noncompetition obligations for a specified period of time after the separation but otherwise will not be restricted in its ability to compete with Spinco.

We may incur material costs and expenses as a result of the spin-off.

We may incur costs and expenses greater than those we currently expect to incur as a result of the spin-off. These increased costs and expenses may arise from various factors, including financial reporting and costs associated with complying with federal securities laws (including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). We will also incur ongoing costs and dis-synergies in connection with, or as a result of, the separation and related restructuring transactions, including costs of operating as independent, publicly traded companies that the two businesses will no longer be able to share. We cannot assure you that these costs will not be material to our business.

If, following the spin-off, we are unable to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, the reliability of our financial statements may be questioned, and our stock price may suffer.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires any company subject to the reporting requirements of the U.S. securities laws to do a comprehensive evaluation of its and its consolidated subsidiaries’ internal control over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until the year following the first annual report required to be filed with the SEC. To comply with this statute, we will be required to document and test our internal control procedures, our management will be required to assess and issue a report concerning our internal control over financial reporting and our independent auditors will be required to issue an opinion on our internal control over financial reporting. The rules governing the standards that must be met for management to assess our internal control over financial reporting are complex and require significant documentation, testing and

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possible remediation to meet the detailed standards under the rules. During the course of our testing, our management may identify material weaknesses or deficiencies which may not be remedied in time to meet the deadline imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, or we identify material weaknesses in our internal controls, investor confidence in our financial results may weaken, and our stock price may suffer.

We are being spun-off from our parent company, WDC, and our historical and pro forma financial information is not necessarily representative of the results that we would have achieved as a separate, publicly traded company and therefore may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.

We are being spun-off from WDC, our parent company, and have no operating history as an independent, publicly traded company. The historical information about us in this information statement refers to our business as part of pre-spin-off WDC. Our historical and pro forma financial information included in this information statement is derived from the combined financial statements and accounting records of WDC. Accordingly, the historical and pro forma financial information included in this information statement does not necessarily reflect the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows that we would have achieved as a separate, publicly traded company during the periods presented or those that we will achieve in the future primarily as a result of the factors described below:

For additional information about the past financial performance of our business and the basis of presentation of the historical combined financial statements and the unaudited pro forma combined financial statements of our business, see the sections of this information statement entitled “Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information,” “Notes to Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information,” “Summary of Historical and Unaudited Pro Forma Combined Financial Data” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” as well as the combined financial statements and accompanying notes, included elsewhere in this information statement.

WDC may fail to perform under various transaction agreements that will be executed as part of the spin-off, or we may fail to have necessary systems and services in place when WDC is no longer obligated to provide services under the various agreements.

We and WDC will enter into certain agreements, such as the separation and distribution agreement, a transition services agreement, a tax matters agreement, an employee matters agreement, a stockholder and registration rights agreement, a transitional trademark license agreement and an intellectual property cross-license agreement, as discussed in greater detail in the section of this information statement entitled “Certain Relationships and

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Related Transactions—Material Agreements with WDC,” which may provide for the performance by each company for the benefit of the other for a period of time after the spin-off. If WDC is unable to satisfy its obligations under these agreements, including its indemnification obligations in favor of us, we could incur operational difficulties or losses.

If we do not have in place our own systems and services, and do not have agreements with other providers of these services when the transitional or other agreements terminate, or if we do not implement the new systems or replace WDC’s services successfully, we may not be able to operate our business effectively, which could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These systems and services may also be more expensive to install, implement and operate, or less efficient than the systems and services WDC is expected to provide during the transition period.

In connection with our spin-off from WDC, WDC will indemnify us for certain liabilities. However, there can be no assurance that the indemnity will be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, or that WDC’s ability to satisfy its indemnification obligation will not be impaired in the future.

WDC will agree to indemnify us for certain liabilities as discussed further in the section of this information statement entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions—Material Agreements with WDC.” However, third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for liabilities that WDC has agreed to retain, and there can be no assurance that the indemnity from WDC will be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, or that WDC will be able to fully satisfy its indemnification obligations. In addition, WDC’s insurers may attempt to deny coverage to us for liabilities associated with certain occurrences of indemnified liabilities prior to the spin-off.

In connection with our separation, we will assume, and indemnify WDC for, certain liabilities. If we are required to make payments pursuant to these indemnities to WDC, we would need to meet those obligations and our financial results could be adversely impacted.

We will agree to assume, and indemnify WDC for, certain liabilities as discussed further in the section of this information statement entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions—Material Agreements with WDC.” Payments pursuant to these indemnities may be significant and could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, particularly indemnities relating to our actions that could impact the tax-free nature of the distribution.

If the distribution of our shares, together with certain related transactions, does not qualify for the Intended Tax Treatment, you and WDC could be subject to significant U.S. federal income tax liability and, in certain circumstances, we could be required to indemnify WDC for material taxes pursuant to indemnification obligations under the anticipated tax matters agreement.

It is a condition to the completion of the distribution that WDC receives the Tax Opinion, substantially to the effect that, among other things, the distribution, together with certain related transactions, will qualify for the Intended Tax Treatment, although this condition may be waived by WDC in its sole discretion. The Tax Opinion will rely on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings from WDC and us, including those regarding the past and future conduct of the companies’ respective businesses and other matters. Nevertheless, an opinion of counsel neither binds the IRS nor precludes the IRS or the courts from adopting a contrary position. Therefore, notwithstanding the Tax Opinion, the IRS could determine that the distribution or any such related transaction is taxable if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are not correct or have been violated, or that the distribution should be taxable for other reasons, including if the IRS were to disagree with the conclusions in the Tax Opinion. For more information regarding the Tax Opinion, see the section of this information statement entitled “United States Federal Income Tax Consequences of the Distribution.”

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If the distribution or any of the above referenced related transactions is determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, a stockholder of WDC that has received shares of our stock in the distribution and WDC could each incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities. In addition, WDC and we could incur significant U.S. federal income tax obligations, whether under applicable law or under the tax matters agreement that we intend to enter into with WDC. For a discussion of the tax consequences of the distribution, together with certain related transactions, please refer to the section entitled “United States Federal Income Tax Consequences of the Distribution.”

To preserve the tax-free treatment to WDC and its stockholders of the distribution and certain related transactions, under the tax matters agreement that we anticipate entering into with WDC, we will be restricted from taking certain actions after the distribution that could adversely impact the intended U.S. federal income tax treatment of the distribution and such related transactions.

To preserve the tax-free treatment to WDC and its stockholders of the distribution and certain related transactions, under the tax matters agreement that we anticipate entering into with WDC, we may be restricted from taking certain actions after the distribution that could adversely impact the intended U.S. federal income tax treatment of the distribution, together with certain related transactions. Failure to adhere to any such restrictions, including in certain circumstances that may be outside of our control, could result in tax being imposed on WDC for which we could bear responsibility and for which we could be obligated to indemnify WDC. In addition, even if we are not responsible for tax liabilities of WDC under the anticipated tax matters agreement, we nonetheless could potentially be liable under applicable tax law for such liabilities if WDC were to fail to pay such taxes.

The terms of the anticipated tax matters agreement may, furthermore, restrict us from taking certain actions, particularly for the two years following the spin-off, including (among other things) the ability to freely issue stock, to merge or agree to merge with a third party, to be acquired or agree to be acquired by certain parties and to raise additional equity capital. Any such restrictions could impair our ability to implement strategic initiatives. Also, any indemnity obligation to WDC might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control that we or our stockholders may otherwise consider favorable. These restrictions may limit our ability to enter into certain strategic transactions or other transactions that we may believe to be in the best interests of our stockholders or that might increase the value of our business. In addition, under the anticipated tax matters agreement, we may be required to indemnify WDC against certain tax liabilities as a result of the acquisition of our stock or assets, even if we did not participate in or otherwise facilitate the acquisition. For a discussion of the tax matters agreement, see the section of this information statement entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions—Agreements with WDC—Tax Matters Agreement.”

The spin-off and related internal restructuring transactions may expose us to potential liabilities arising out of state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws and legal dividend requirements.

The spin-off could be challenged under various state and federal fraudulent conveyance laws. Fraudulent conveyances or transfers are generally defined to include (a) transfers made or obligations incurred with the actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud current or future creditors or (b) transfers made or obligations incurred for less than reasonably equivalent value when the debtor was insolvent, or that rendered the debtor insolvent, inadequately capitalized or unable to pay its debts as they become due. A creditor or an entity acting on behalf of a creditor (including, without limitation, a trustee or debtor-in-possession in a bankruptcy by us or WDC or any of our or its respective subsidiaries) may bring a lawsuit alleging that the spin-off or any of the related transactions constituted a fraudulent conveyance. If a court accepts these allegations, it could impose a number of remedies, including, without limitation, voiding the distribution and returning our assets or shares and subjecting WDC and/or us to liability.

The distribution of our common stock is also subject to state corporate distribution statutes. Under applicable Delaware law, including the DGCL, a corporation may only pay a distribution of common stock to its

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stockholders if (1) after giving effect to the consummation of the transaction (a) the assets of each company, at a fair valuation, exceed its respective debts (including contingent liabilities), (b) each company will be able to pay its respective debts (including contingent liabilities) as they become due and (c) neither company will have an unreasonably small amount of either assets or capital for the operations of the businesses in which it is engaged or in which management has indicated it intends to engage and (2) immediately prior to giving effect to the distribution and pursuant to Section 170 of the DGCL, the surplus of the company declaring the distribution exceeds the net amount of the distribution less any dividend paid to the company declaring the distribution. Although WDC intends to make the distribution of our common stock entirely out of surplus and we and WDC intend to obtain the Solvency Opinions, we and WDC cannot ensure that a court would reach the same conclusion in determining the availability of surplus for the separation and the distribution to WDC’s stockholders.

After the spin-off, certain of our executive officers and directors may have actual or potential conflicts of interest because of their previous positions at WDC.

Because of their current or former positions with WDC, certain of our expected executive officers and directors own equity interests in WDC. Following the spin-off, even though our board of directors will consist of a majority of directors who are independent, and any of our expected executive officers who are currently employees of WDC will cease to be employees of WDC upon the spin-off, some of our executive officers and directors will continue to have a financial interest in shares of WDC common stock and equity awards. Specifically, each outstanding WDC equity award held by our employees at the level of vice president and above will be converted into both a post-separation WDC award relating to shares of WDC common stock and a Spinco award relating to shares of Spinco common stock at the time of separation. Continuing ownership of shares of WDC common stock and equity awards could create, or appear to create, potential conflicts of interest if we and WDC pursue the same corporate opportunities or face decisions that could have different implications for us and WDC.

We may have received better terms from unaffiliated third parties than the terms we will receive in our agreements with WDC.

The agreements we will enter into with WDC in connection with the spin-off, including the ancillary agreements, were prepared in the context of our spin-off from WDC while we were still a wholly owned subsidiary of WDC. Accordingly, during the period in which the terms of those agreements were prepared, we did not have a board of directors or management team that was independent of WDC. While the parties believe the terms reflect arm’s-length terms, there can be no assurance that we would not have received better terms from unaffiliated third parties than the terms we will receive in our agreements with WDC. For more information, see the section of this information statement entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions—Agreements with WDC.”

Some contracts and other assets which will need to be transferred or assigned from WDC or its affiliates to us in connection with our spin-off from WDC may require the consent of a third party. If such consent is not given, we may not be entitled to the benefit of such contracts and other assets in the future, which could adversely impact our financial condition and future results of operations.

In connection with our spin-off from WDC, a number of contracts and licenses with third-parties and other assets are to be transferred or assigned from (x) WDC or its affiliates to us or our anticipated subsidiaries or (y) us or our affiliates to WDC or its subsidiaries. However, the transfer or assignment of certain of these contracts, licenses or assets may require the consent of a third party to such a transfer or assignment. Similarly, in some

circumstances, we and another business unit of WDC are joint beneficiaries of contracts, and we or WDC will need to (x) enter into a new agreement with the third-party to replicate the existing contract, (y) be assigned and delegated the portion of the existing contract related to the applicable business or (z) use commercially

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reasonable efforts to provide for an alternative arrangement to obtain the same or reasonably similar benefits and burdens of the applicable portion of the existing contract. It is possible that some parties may use the requirement of a consent or the fact that the spin-off is occurring to seek more favorable contractual terms from us, to terminate the contract or license or to otherwise request additional accommodations, commitments or other agreements from us. If we are unable to obtain such consents on commercially reasonable and satisfactory terms or if the contracts are terminated, we may be unable to obtain the benefits, assets and contractual commitments which are intended to be allocated to us as part of our spin-off from WDC. The failure to timely complete the assignment of existing contracts, licenses or assets, or the negotiation of new arrangements, or a termination of any of those arrangements, could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and future results of operations. To the extent we require a specific arrangement and agree to less favorable terms in connection with obtaining any consent to retain that arrangement, the basis for that arrangement may be less favorable than currently held by us and could adversely impact our financial conditions and future results of operations. In addition, where we do not intend to obtain consent from third-party counterparties based on our belief that no consent is required, the third-party counterparties may challenge a transfer of assets on the basis that the terms of the applicable commercial arrangements require the third-party counterparties’ consent. We may incur substantial litigation and other costs in connection with any such claims and, if we do not prevail, our ability to use these assets could be materially and adversely impacted.

If our cash flow from operations is less than we anticipate, or if our cash requirements are more than we expect, we may require additional access to capital and may need to incur additional debt or raise additional funds.

If our cash flow from operations is less than we anticipate, or if our cash requirements are more than we expect, we may require additional access to capital and may need to incur additional debt or raise additional funds. However, debt or equity financing may not be available to us on terms acceptable or favorable to us, if at all, and will depend on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as the state of the credit and financial markets and other economic, financial and geopolitical factors. If we incur additional debt or raise capital through the issuance of preferred stock, the terms of the debt or preferred stock issued may give the holders thereof rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock, particularly in the event of liquidation. The terms of such debt may also impose additional and more stringent restrictions on our operations than we are currently subject to. If we raise funds through the issuance of additional equity, your percentage ownership in us would be diluted. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed, it could affect our financial condition, which could adversely impact your investment in us.

Following the spin-off, the value of your common stock in WDC and Spinco may collectively trade at an aggregate price less than what WDC’s common stock might have traded at had the spin-off not occurred.

The common stock of WDC and Spinco that you may hold following the spin-off may collectively trade (taking into account the distribution ratio) at a value less than the price at which WDC’s common stock might have traded had the spin-off not occurred or as it was trading prior to the spin-off. Reasons for this potential difference include the future performance of either WDC or Spinco as separate, independent companies, and the future stockholder base and market for WDC’s common stock and those of Spinco and the prices at which these shares individually trade.

Until the distribution occurs, WDC has the sole discretion to change the terms of the spin-off in ways which may be unfavorable to us.

Completion of the distribution will be contingent upon the satisfaction or waiver of customary conditions, including, among other things, the effectiveness of appropriate filings with the SEC. For a more detailed description of these conditions, see the section of this information statement entitled “The Separation and Distribution—General—Conditions to the Distribution.” Until the distribution occurs, WDC will have the sole and absolute discretion to determine and change the terms of the spin-off, including the allocation of assets and

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liabilities, the establishment of the record date for the distribution and distribution date, the conditions to the distribution and all other terms. These changes could be unfavorable to us. In addition, until the spin-off has occurred, WDC has the right not to complete the spin-off, even if all the conditions have been satisfied, if, at any time prior to the distribution, the WDC Board of Directors determines, in its sole discretion, that the spin-off is not in the best interests of WDC or its stockholders, that a sale or other alternative is in the best interests of WDC or its stockholders, or that market conditions or other circumstances are such that it is not advisable at that time to separate the Flash Business from WDC. We cannot provide any assurances that the distribution will be completed.

Certain entities or assets that are part of our separation from WDC may not be transferred to us or may not be transferred to WDC, as applicable, prior to the distribution or at all.

Certain entities and assets that are part of our separation from WDC may not be transferred prior to the distribution because the entities or assets, as applicable, are subject to governmental or third-party approvals that we may not receive prior to the distribution. It is currently anticipated that all material transfers will occur without material delays beyond the distribution, but we cannot offer any assurance that such transfers will ultimately occur or not be delayed for an extended period of time. To the extent such transfers do not occur prior to the distribution, under the separation and distribution agreement, the benefits and burdens of owning such assets and/or entities will, to the extent reasonably possible and permitted by applicable law, be provided to the applicable party.

In the event such transfers do not occur or are significantly delayed because we do not receive the required approvals, we may not realize all of the anticipated benefits of our separation from WDC and we may be dependent on WDC for transition services for a longer period of time than would otherwise be the case.

The separation could give rise to disputes or other unfavorable effects, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position or results of operations.

The separation may lead to increased operating and other expenses, of both a nonrecurring and a recurring nature, and to changes to certain operations, which expenses or changes could arise pursuant to arrangements made between WDC and us or could trigger contractual rights of, and obligations to, third parties. Disputes with third parties could also arise out of these transactions, and we could experience unfavorable reactions to the separation from employees, lenders, ratings agencies, regulators or other interested parties. These increased expenses, changes to operations, disputes with third parties or other effects could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position or results of operations. In addition, following the separation, disputes with WDC could arise in connection with one or more of the ancillary agreements or certain other agreements.

We will share certain directors with WDC, which overlap may give rise to conflicts.

Following the distribution, there will be an overlap between certain of our directors and directors of WDC. Shared directors may have actual or apparent conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving or affecting each of WDC or Spinco. For example, there will be the potential for a conflict of interest when we on the one hand, and WDC and its respective subsidiaries and successors on the other hand, are party to commercial transactions concerning the same or adjacent investments. In addition, after the distribution, certain of our directors will continue to own shares or equity awards of WDC. These ownership interests could create actual, apparent or potential conflicts of interest when these individuals are faced with decisions that could have different implications for our company and WDC. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Procedures for Approval of Related Person Transactions” for a discussion of certain procedures we will institute to help ameliorate such potential conflicts that may arise.

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The separation may result in disruptions to relationships with customers, suppliers and other business partners.

While we intend to manage our operations to minimize any disruptions to our customers, suppliers and business partners, uncertainty related to the separation may nevertheless lead to disruption in those relationships. These disruptions, if not managed by us, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

After the separation, we may be unable to make, on a timely or cost-effective basis, the changes necessary to operate as an independent company.

At the completion of the separation, we may not have the infrastructure or personnel necessary to operate as an independent company, including with respect to the functionality and reliability of our information technology systems, without relying on WDC to provide certain transitional services. We may need additional personnel or third-party service providers to successfully operate our business. Upon the completion of the separation, we will enter into a transition services agreement with WDC pursuant to which we will provide certain services to WDC, and WDC will provide certain services to us, to allow us to continue to operate in substantially the same manner

following the separation and to benefit from the continuation of certain services for a certain amount of time post-separation and certain cost efficiencies in sharing certain resources and personnel. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully implement the infrastructure or retain or hire the personnel necessary to operate as a separate company or that we will not incur costs in excess of anticipated costs to establish such infrastructure and retain or hire such personnel.

Any failure of our Flash Ventures partner, Kioxia, to provide timely or accurate financial reports to us may adversely affect the timeliness or accuracy of our financial statements.

We will rely on Kioxia, a private Japanese company, to provide reliable and timely financial statement information so that we may include such financial results in our financial reports. Any failure of Kioxia to provide timely or accurate financial reports to us may adversely affect the timeliness or accuracy of our financial statements.

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Risks Related to Our Common Stock

We cannot be certain that an active trading market for our common stock will develop or be sustained after the spin-off and, following the spin-off, our stock price may fluctuate significantly.

A public market for our common stock does not currently exist. We expect that shortly before the distribution date, trading of shares of our common stock will begin on a “when-issued” basis on Nasdaq and will continue through the distribution date. However, we cannot guarantee that an active trading market will develop or be sustained for our common stock after the spin-off. Nor can we predict the prices at which shares of our common stock may trade after the spin-off.

Similarly, we cannot predict the effect of the spin-off on the trading prices of our common stock. Subject to the completion of the spin-off, we expect our common stock to be listed and traded on Nasdaq under the symbol “SNDK.” The combined trading prices of WDC common stock and our common stock after the separation, as adjusted for any changes in the combined capitalization of these companies, may not be equal to or greater than the trading price of WDC common stock prior to the spin-off. Until the market has fully evaluated the business of WDC without our business, or fully evaluated us, the price at which WDC’s or our common stock trades may fluctuate significantly.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly due to a number of factors, some of which may be beyond our control, including:

Stock markets in general have experienced volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of a particular company. Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, shareholder derivative lawsuits and/or securities class action litigation has often been instituted against such company. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources.

In addition, investors may have difficulty accurately valuing our common stock. Investors often value companies based on the stock prices and results of operations of other comparable companies. Investors may find it difficult to find comparable companies and to accurately value our common stock, which may cause the trading price of our common stock to fluctuate.

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Any sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales might occur, in connection with the distribution or otherwise, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Upon completion of the distribution, we expect that we will have an aggregate of approximately 144 million shares of our common stock issued and outstanding based upon approximately 346 million shares of WDC common stock outstanding as of September 27, 2024. The shares of our common stock will be freely tradeable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), unless the shares are owned by one of our “affiliates,” as that term is defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act.

We are unable to predict whether large amounts of our common stock will be sold in the open market following the spin-off. We are also unable to predict whether a sufficient number of buyers would be in the market at that time. WDC investors who have an investment strategy of tracking an index fund, such as the S&P 500 index, may sell the shares of Spinco common stock that they receive in the distribution if Spinco is not listed on the same index. As a result, the price of Spinco common stock may decline or experience volatility as Spinco’s stockholder base changes. Whether related to the foregoing or otherwise, sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock in the public market following the spin-off, or the perception that such sales might occur, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

In addition, WDC is retaining 19.9% of our common stock and will have adverse tax consequences if that stake is not disposed of within 12 months of the distribution. WDC will dispose of such shares of Spinco common stock that it owns after the distribution through one or more subsequent exchanges of Spinco common stock for WDC debt held by WDC creditors and/or through distributions of Spinco common stock to WDC stockholders as dividends or in exchange for outstanding shares of WDC common stock, in each case during the 12-month period following the distribution. Any disposition by WDC, or any significant stockholder, of Spinco common stock, or the perception that such dispositions could occur, could adversely affect prevailing market prices for Spinco common stock.

We do not intend to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable future.

The timing, declaration, amount and payment of future dividends to stockholders falls within the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on many factors, including our financial condition, earnings, capital requirements of our business and covenants associated with debt obligations, as well as legal requirements, regulatory constraints, industry practice and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. We do not intend to, and there can be no assurance that we will, pay any dividend in the future.

Your percentage of ownership in us may be diluted in the future.

Your percentage ownership in us may be diluted because of equity issuances for acquisitions, capital market transactions or otherwise, including, without limitation, equity awards that we may grant to our directors, officers and employees.

Our charter will authorize us to issue, without the approval of our stockholders, one or more classes or series of preferred stock having such designation, powers, preferences, and relative, participating, optional and other special rights, including preferences over our common stock respecting dividends and distributions, as our board of directors generally may determine. The terms of one or more classes or series of preferred stock could dilute the voting power or reduce the value of our common stock. For example, we could grant the holders of preferred stock the right to elect some number of our directors in all events or on the happening of specified events or to veto specified transactions. Similarly, the repurchase or redemption rights or liquidation preferences we could assign to holders of preferred stock could affect the residual value of our common stock. See the section entitled “Description of Capital Stock.”

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Provisions of Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws, may prevent or delay an acquisition of our company, which could decrease the market price of our common stock.

Delaware law contains, and our certificate of incorporation and bylaws will contain, provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others:

Public stockholders who might desire to participate in these types of transactions may not have an opportunity to do so, even if the transaction is considered favorable to stockholders. These anti-takeover provisions could substantially impede the ability of public stockholders to benefit from a change in control or a change in our management and board of directors and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and your ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

In addition, following the distribution, we will be subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. Section 203 of the DGCL protects publicly traded Delaware corporations, such as us following the distribution, from hostile takeovers and from actions following a hostile takeover, by prohibiting some transactions once a potential acquirer has gained a significant holding in the corporation. Subject to certain exceptions, the statute prohibits a publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person became an interested stockholder, unless:

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For purposes of Section 203 of the DGCL, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset sale or other transaction resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder, with an “interested stockholder” being defined as a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns (or who is an affiliate or associate of the corporation and did own within three years prior to the date of determination whether the person is an “interested stockholder”) 15% or more of the corporation’s voting stock.

A corporation may elect not to be governed by Section 203 of the DGCL. Neither our certificate of incorporation nor our bylaws will contain the election not to be governed by Section 203 of the DGCL. Therefore, we will be governed by Section 203 of the DGCL.

We believe these provisions will protect our stockholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors and by providing our board of directors with more time to assess any acquisition proposal. These provisions are not intended to make us immune from takeovers. However, these provisions will apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our board of directors determines is not in the best interests of us and our stockholders. These provisions may also prevent or discourage attempts to remove and replace incumbent directors.

Our certificate of incorporation will contain an exclusive forum provision that could limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the stockholder believes is favorable for such disputes and may discourage lawsuits against us and any of our directors, officers or other employees.

Our certificate of incorporation will provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or the federal district court in the State of Delaware if the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction) is the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former director, officer or other employee or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine (the “Delaware Exclusive Forum Provision”). Our certificate of incorporation will further provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Federal Forum Provision”).

The Delaware Exclusive Forum Provision is intended to apply to claims arising under Delaware state law and would not apply to claims brought pursuant to the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, the Federal Forum Provision is intended to apply to claims arising under the Securities Act and would not apply to claims brought pursuant to the Exchange Act. The exclusive forum provisions we will include in our certificate of incorporation will not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder and, accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder must be brought in federal courts. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

The exclusive forum provisions we will include in our certificate of incorporation may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with the company or its directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. In addition, stockholders who do bring a claim in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware pursuant to the Delaware Exclusive Forum Provision could face additional litigation costs in pursuing any such claim,

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particularly if they do not reside in or near Delaware. The court in the designated forum under our exclusive forum provisions may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments or results may be more favorable to us than to our stockholders. Further, the enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find any of our exclusive forum provisions to be inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings. If a court were to find all or any part of our exclusive forum provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we might incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.

The price of WDC’s common stock historically has been volatile, and the price of our common stock may be volatile as well. This volatility may affect the price at which you could sell your common stock, and the sale of substantial amounts of our common stock could adversely affect the price of our common stock.

The market price of WDC’s common stock has been volatile, and the price of our common stock may also be volatile. This volatility may affect the price at which you could sell your common stock. Our stock price may be subject to significant price and volume fluctuations in response to market and other factors, including:

In addition, the sale of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock, or the perception that these sales may occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Further, the stock market is subject to fluctuations in the stock prices and trading volumes that affect the market prices of the stock of public companies, including us. These broad market fluctuations have adversely affected and may continue to adversely

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affect the market price of shares of our common stock. For example, expectations concerning general economic conditions may cause the stock market to experience extreme price and volume fluctuations from time to time that particularly affect the stock prices of many high technology companies. These fluctuations may be unrelated to the operating performance of the companies.

Securities class action lawsuits are often brought against companies after periods of volatility in the market price of their securities, and any such lawsuits filed against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of resources and management’s attention.

Tax matters may materially affect our financial position and results of operations.

Changes in tax laws in the United States, the European Union and around the globe have impacted and will continue to impact our effective worldwide tax rate, which may materially affect our financial position and results of operations. Further, the majority of countries in the G20 and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting have agreed to adopt a two-pillar approach to taxation, which includes the implementation of a global corporate minimum tax rate of 15%, which when effective could materially increase our tax obligations in these countries. Due to the large scale of our U.S. and international business activities, many of these enacted and proposed changes to the taxation of our activities, including cash movements, could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our business. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the option to deduct research and development expenditures in the year incurred, requiring amortization in accordance with IRC Section 174. Depending on our operating results, this requirement could materially increase our effective tax rate and reduce our operating cash flows. Additionally, portions of our operations are subject to a reduced tax rate or are free of tax under various tax holidays that expire in whole or in part from time to time, or may be terminated if certain conditions are not met. Although many of these holidays may be extended when certain conditions are met, we may not be able to meet such conditions. If the tax holidays are not extended, or if we fail to satisfy the conditions of the reduced tax rate, then our effective tax rate could increase in the future. Our determination of our tax liability in the U.S. and other jurisdictions is subject to review by applicable domestic and foreign tax authorities. Although we believe our tax positions are properly supported, the final timing and resolution of any tax examinations are subject to significant uncertainty and could result in litigation or the payment of significant amounts to the applicable tax authority in order to resolve examination of our tax positions, which could result in an increase of our current estimate of unrecognized tax benefits and may harm our business.

No vote of the WDC stockholders is required in connection with the separation and distribution. As a result, if you do not want to receive our common stock in the distribution, your sole recourse will be to divest yourself of your WDC common stock prior to or on the distribution date.

No vote of WDC stockholders is required or being sought in connection with the separation and distribution. Accordingly, if you do not want to receive our common stock in the distribution, your only recourse will be to divest yourself of your WDC common stock prior to or on the distribution date. You may also choose to divest shares of our common stock you receive in the distribution following the distribution.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they downgrade their recommendations regarding our common stock, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If any of the analysts who may cover us downgrade our common stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our common stock price may decline. If analysts cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our common stock price or trading volume to decline and our common stock to be less liquid.

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Provisions in our joint venture agreements with Kioxia may deter, prevent or delay an acquisition of us, which could decrease the market price of our common stock and limit our future strategic opportunities.

The joint venture agreements with Kioxia contain provisions that may deter, prevent or delay third parties from acquiring us. These provisions include, among others:

If we nevertheless wanted to pursue a transaction providing for our acquisition by a third party, the provisions in our joint venture agreements with Kioxia could deter, prevent or delay a potential acquiror from pursuing such a transaction, even if the transaction is considered favorable to our stockholders.

We may seek a waiver of applicable provisions of the joint venture agreements from Kioxia or Kioxia’s consent with respect to such a transaction, but there is no guarantee that we will successfully obtain Kioxia’s consent or waiver.

The provisions in our joint venture agreements with Kioxia could substantially impede the ability of public stockholders to benefit from future strategic transactions, including an acquisition of Spinco and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and your ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This information statement and other materials WDC and Spinco have filed or will file with the SEC contain, or will contain, forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Spinco’s product and technology position, the anticipated benefits and timing of the proposed spin-off of WDC’s Flash Business and all statements regarding Spinco’s expected future position, results of operations, cash flows, dividends, financing plans, business strategy, budgets, capital expenditures, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management, and statements containing the use of forward-looking words, such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “continue,” “potential,” “plan,” “forecast,” “approximate,” “intend,” “upside,” “target,” “intend,” and the like, or the use of future tense. Statements contained herein concerning the business outlook or future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses, dividends or other financial items, and products or services line growth of Spinco, together with other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements that are estimates reflecting the best judgment of Spinco based upon currently available information. Statements concerning current conditions may also be forward-looking if they imply a continuation of current conditions.

Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and stockholders and other potential investors must recognize that actual results may differ materially from Spinco’s expectations as a result of a variety of factors, including, without limitation, those discussed below. These forward-looking statements are based upon management’s current expectations and include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which Spinco is unable to predict or control, that may cause actual results, performance or plans to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including: volatility in global economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; pricing trends and fluctuations in average selling prices; the availability and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; actions by competitors; unexpected advances in competing technologies; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; and other risks and uncertainties listed under the sections entitled “Summary of the Separation and Distribution,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Business,” and “The Separation and Distribution.” You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and Spinco undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events.

Risks and uncertainties related to the proposed spin-off include, but are not limited to: the future operating results of the stand-alone business; value creation associated with the separation and stand-alone business; the anticipated qualification of the spin-off as a tax-free transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes; the expected relationship of the two businesses post-separation; whether the spin-off will be completed on the expected terms and on the anticipated timeline or at all, including the possibility that the conditions to the proposed spin-off may not be satisfied, including that a governmental entity may prohibit, delay or refuse to grant a necessary approval; the expected benefits and costs of the spin-off, including that the expected benefits will not be realized within the expected time frame, in full or at all; potential adverse reactions or changes to Spinco’s business relationships with their respective customers, suppliers or other partners resulting from the announcement and completion of the proposed spin-off; competitive responses to the announcement or completion of the proposed spin-off; potential adverse effects on Spinco’s stock prices resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed spin-off; unexpected costs, liabilities, charges or expenses resulting from the proposed spin-off; litigation relating to the proposed spin-off; the inability to retain key personnel of Spinco as a result of the proposed spin-off, disruption of management time from ongoing business operations due to the proposed spin-off; business impact of geopolitical conflicts; and any changes in general economic and/or industry-specific conditions. In addition to the factors set forth above, the proposed spin-off is subject to other economic, competitive, legal, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect the proposed spin-off and Spinco’s plans, results or stock price and which are set forth under the sections entitled “Summary of the Separation and Distribution,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition

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and Results of Operations,” “Business,” and “The Separation and Distribution.” Many of these factors are beyond Spinco’s control. Spinco cautions investors that any forward-looking statements made by Spinco are not guarantees of future performance. Spinco does not intend, or undertake any obligation, to publish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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THE SEPARATION AND DISTRIBUTION

General

On October 30, 2023, WDC announced its intention to separate into two standalone, publicly traded companies. WDC has determined to implement this separation through the spin-off of WDC’s Flash Business to its stockholders. WDC intends to effect the spin-off pursuant to an internal reorganization followed by a pro rata distribution of 80.1% of the shares of our common stock held by WDC to holders of shares of WDC common stock, subject to certain conditions. The distribution of our common stock is expected to take place on or about [●]. On the distribution date, each holder of WDC common stock will receive for each share of WDC common stock held as of [●] Pacific time on [●], the record date for the distribution, one-third (1/3) of one share of Spinco common stock (the “distribution ratio”). Spinco will be a separate, publicly traded company. You will not be required to make any payment, surrender or exchange your WDC common stock or take any other action to receive your shares of Spinco common stock to which you are entitled on the distribution date. The number of shares you own of WDC will not change as a result of the spin-off. On the distribution date, WDC will hold 19.9% of Spinco common stock. Following the distribution, WDC will dispose of all of the Spinco common stock that it retains through one or more subsequent exchanges of Spinco common stock for WDC debt held by WDC creditors and/or through distributions of Spinco common stock to WDC stockholders as dividends or in exchange for outstanding shares of WDC common stock, in each case during the 12-month period following the distribution.

The distribution of our common stock as described in this information statement is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions. Until the spin-off has occurred, WDC has the right not to complete the spin-off, even if all the conditions have been satisfied, if, at any time prior to the distribution, the WDC Board of Directors determines, in its sole discretion, that the spin-off is not in the best interests of WDC or its stockholders, that a sale or other alternative is in the best interests of WDC or its stockholders, or that market conditions or other circumstances are such that it is not advisable at that time to separate the Flash Business from WDC. We cannot provide any assurances that the distribution will be completed. For a more detailed description of these conditions, see the section of this information statement entitled “The Separation and Distribution—General—Conditions to the Distribution.”

Reasons for the Spin-Off

WDC has made significant strides in creating a leading digital storage solution business while continuing to strengthen and grow the Flash Business, and, to accelerate the pace of transformation, the WDC Board of Directors approved a plan to separate WDC and Spinco into two independent, publicly traded companies. The spin-off will create two strong, stand-alone businesses, each of which will have leading positions in the markets they serve and will be better positioned to deliver long-term growth and sustainable value creation for all shareholders:

The WDC Board of Directors believes that separating the Flash Business from the remainder of WDC and distributing Spinco shares to WDC stockholders is in the best interests of WDC and its stockholders for a number of reasons, including:

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The WDC Board of Directors also considered potentially negative factors in evaluating the spin-off, including:

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The WDC Board of Directors concluded that the potential benefits of the spin-off outweighed these factors and risks. The WDC Board of Directors also considered these potential benefits and potentially negative factors in light of the risk that the spin-off is abandoned or otherwise not completed, resulting in WDC not separating into two independent, publicly traded companies.

In view of the wide variety of factors considered in connection with the evaluation of the spin-off and the complexity of these matters, the WDC Board of Directors did not find it useful to, and did not attempt to, quantify, rank or otherwise assign relative weights to the factors considered.

The anticipated benefits of the spin-off are based on a number of assumptions, and there can be no assurance that such benefits will materialize to the extent anticipated, or at all. In the event the spin-off does not result in such benefits, the costs associated with the spin-off could have an adverse effect on each company individually and in the aggregate. For more information, see the section of this information statement entitled “Risk Factors.”

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Reasons for WDC’s Retention of 19.9% of Spinco Common Stock

WDC’s plan to transfer less than all of the Spinco common stock to its stockholders in the distribution is motivated by its desire to establish, in an efficient and non-taxable, cost-effective manner, an appropriate capital structure for each of WDC and Spinco, including by reducing, directly or indirectly, WDC’s indebtedness during the 12-month period following the distribution. WDC will dispose of all of the Spinco common stock that it retains after the distribution through one or more subsequent exchanges of Spinco common stock for WDC debt held by WDC creditors and/or through distributions of Spinco common stock to WDC stockholders as dividends or in exchange for outstanding shares of WDC common stock, in each case during the 12-month period following the distribution.

Formation of a Holding Company Prior to the Distribution and Internal Reorganization

As part of the spin-off, WDC formed Spinco as a corporation in Delaware on February 5, 2024, for the purpose of transferring to Spinco certain assets and liabilities, including certain entities holding assets and liabilities, associated with the Flash Business in anticipation of the planned spin-off. Spinco has engaged in no business activities to date, and it has no material assets or liabilities of any kind, other than those incident to its formation and those incurred in connection with the spin-off. Prior to the distribution, through a series of internal reorganization transactions, (i) WDC and its subsidiaries will transfer the assets and liabilities associated with the Flash Business to Spinco or certain entities which will become its subsidiaries and transfer the equity interests of certain entities holding such assets and liabilities to Spinco and (ii) Spinco and its subsidiaries will transfer the assets and liabilities associated with the HDD Business that are held by Spinco’s subsidiaries, if any, to WDC or its subsidiaries, in each case, as set forth in the separation and distribution agreement. WDC and its subsidiaries will also transfer all or a portion of certain other corporate and shared assets and liabilities to Spinco (or certain entities which will become its subsidiaries) and Spinco and its subsidiaries will also transfer all or a portion of certain other corporate and shared assets and liabilities to WDC or its subsidiaries, in each case, pursuant to the terms of the separation and distribution agreement. In exchange for the transfer of flash assets and liabilities to Spinco, Spinco will pay WDC the Spinco Dividend. WDC will continue to hold WDC’s HDD Business. Spinco is also expected to enter into certain financing arrangements and incur certain indebtedness prior to and in connection with the spin-off. See the section of this information statement entitled “Description of Certain Indebtedness” for more information.

Reasons for Furnishing this Information Statement; Changes in the Terms of the Spin-Off

This information statement is being furnished solely to provide information to WDC stockholders who are entitled to receive shares of our common stock in the distribution. The information statement is not, and is not to be construed as, an inducement or encouragement to buy, hold or sell any of our securities or securities of WDC. We believe that the information in this information statement is accurate as of the date set forth on the cover.

Changes may occur after that date and none of us, WDC, the Spinco Board of Directors or the WDC Board of Directors undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required by applicable federal securities laws.

WDC does not intend to notify its stockholders of any modifications to the terms of the spin-off, including the waiver of any conditions to the distribution, that, in the judgment of its board of directors, are not material. However, the WDC Board of Directors would likely consider material matters such as significant changes to the distribution ratio, or significant changes to the assets to be contributed or the liabilities to be assumed in the separation, as well as the waiver of the condition that the WDC Board of Directors receives the Tax Opinion with

respect to the spin-off. To the extent that the WDC Board of Directors determines that any modification by WDC materially changes the material terms of the spin-off, including through the waiver of a condition to the distribution, WDC will notify WDC stockholders in a manner reasonably calculated to inform them about the modification as may be required by law, by, for example, publishing a press release, filing a current report on Form 8-K or making available a supplement to this information statement. As of the date hereof, the WDC Board of Directors does not intend to waive any of the conditions described herein.

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Conditions to the Distribution

The distribution of our common stock by WDC is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the following conditions, among others:

WDC and Spinco cannot assure you that any or all of these conditions will be met, and the WDC Board of Directors may also waive conditions to the distribution in its sole discretion. If the spin-off is completed and the WDC Board of Directors waives any such condition, such waiver could have a material adverse effect on WDC’s

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and Spinco’s respective business, financial condition or results of operations, including, without limitation, as a result of litigation relating to any preliminary or permanent injunctions that sought to prevent the consummation of the spin-off, or the failure of WDC and Spinco to obtain any required regulatory approvals. As of the date hereof, the WDC Board of Directors does not intend to waive any of the conditions described herein.

The fulfillment of the above conditions will not create any obligation on behalf of WDC to effect the spin-off, and WDC may at any time decline to go forward with the spin-off. Until the spin-off has occurred, WDC has the right not to complete the spin-off, even if all the conditions have been satisfied, if, at any time prior to the distribution, the WDC Board of Directors determines, in its sole discretion, that the spin-off is not in the best interests of WDC or its stockholders, that a sale or other alternative is in the best interests of WDC or its stockholders, or that market conditions or other circumstances are such that it is not advisable at that time to separate the Flash Business from WDC.

Solvency Opinion

In furtherance of the related condition referenced above, prior to the separation, an independent appraisal firm shall have delivered:

The Number of Shares You Will Receive

For each share of WDC common stock that you owned as of [●] Pacific time on [●], the record date for the distribution, you will receive a number of shares of Spinco common stock equal to the distribution ratio on or about [●], the distribution date. The actual number of shares to be distributed will be determined based on the number of shares of WDC common stock outstanding on the record date for the distribution.

Transferability of Shares You Receive

Shares of Spinco common stock distributed to holders in connection with the distribution will be transferable without registration under the Securities Act, except for shares received by persons who may be deemed to be Spinco affiliates. Persons who may be deemed to be Spinco affiliates after the distribution generally include individuals or entities that control, are controlled by or are under common control with Spinco, which may include certain of Spinco’s executive officers, directors or principal stockholders. Securities held by Spinco affiliates will be

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subject to resale restrictions under the Securities Act. Spinco affiliates will be permitted to sell shares of Spinco common stock only pursuant to an effective registration statement or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, such as the exemption afforded by Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

When and How You Will Receive the Distributed Shares

WDC expects to distribute the shares of Spinco common stock on or about [●], the distribution date. Equiniti Trust Company, LLC will serve as the transfer agent and registrar for our common stock and as distribution agent in connection with the distribution.

If you own shares of WDC common stock as of [●] Pacific time on [●], the record date for the distribution, the shares of Spinco common stock that you will be entitled to receive in the distribution will be issued electronically, as of the distribution date, to you in direct registration form or to your broker, bank or other nominee on your behalf. If you are a registered holder, the distribution agent will then mail you a direct registration account statement that reflects your shares of Spinco common stock. Direct registration form refers to a method of recording share ownership when no physical share certificates are issued to stockholders, as is the case in this distribution. If you sell shares of WDC common stock in the “regular-way” market up to and including the distribution date, you will be selling your right to receive shares of Spinco common stock in the distribution.

If you hold your shares through a brokerage firm or bank, the brokerage firm or bank would be said to hold the shares in “street name” and ownership would be recorded on the brokerage firm or bank’s books and your brokerage firm or bank will credit your account for the shares of Spinco common stock that you are entitled to receive in the distribution. If you have any questions concerning the mechanics of having shares held in “street name,” we encourage you to contact your bank or brokerage firm.

WDC stockholders will not be required to make any payment or surrender or exchange their shares of WDC common stock or take any other action to receive their shares of our common stock.

Treatment of Equity Incentive Arrangements

We expect that WDC equity awards outstanding at the time of the distribution will be adjusted using the following principles:

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With respect to employees, the following table provides additional information regarding the adjustments expected to be made to each type of WDC equity award outstanding as of the distribution date. As a result of the adjustments to such awards in connection with the distribution, the precise number of shares of Spinco common stock or WDC common stock, as applicable, to which the adjusted awards will relate will not be known until the 5^th trading day following the distribution date or shortly thereafter.

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General Treatment of Fractional Shares of Common Stock

WDC will not distribute any fractional common stock shares to its stockholders. Instead, the transfer agent will aggregate fractional shares into whole shares, sell the whole shares in the open market at prevailing market prices and distribute the aggregate cash proceeds (net of discounts and commissions) of the sales pro rata (based on the fractional shares such holder would otherwise be entitled to receive) to each holder who otherwise would have been entitled to receive a fractional share of common stock in the distribution. The transfer agent, in its sole discretion, without any influence by WDC or us, will determine when, how, through which broker-dealer and at what price to sell the whole shares. Any broker-dealer used by the transfer agent will not be an affiliate of either WDC or us. Neither we nor WDC will be able to guarantee any minimum sale price in connection with the sale of these shares. Recipients of cash in lieu of fractional shares of common stock will not be entitled to any interest on the amounts of payment made in lieu of fractional shares.

The aggregate net cash proceeds of these sales will be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For an explanation of the material United States federal income tax consequences of the distribution, see the section of this information statement entitled “United States Federal Income Tax Consequences of the Distribution.” If you are the registered holder of shares of WDC common stock, you will receive a check from the distribution agent in an amount equal to your pro rata share of the aggregate net cash proceeds of the sale. The amount of this payment will depend on the prices at which the transfer agent sells the aggregated fractional shares of our common stock in the open market shortly after the distribution date and will be reduced by any amount required to be withheld for tax purposes and any brokerage fees and other expenses incurred in connection with these

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sales of fractional shares. If you hold your shares of WDC common stock through a bank or brokerage firm, your bank or brokerage firm will receive, on your behalf, your pro rata share of the aggregate net cash proceeds of the sales and will electronically credit your account for your share of such proceeds.

Results of the Spin-Off

Immediately following the spin-off, Spinco will be a separate, publicly traded company, and we expect to have approximately 144 million shares of our common stock outstanding as a result of the distribution. The actual number of shares to be distributed will be determined after [●], the record date for the distribution. The distribution will not affect the number of outstanding shares of WDC common stock and WDC preferred stock.

Market for Spinco Common Stock

There is currently no public market for our common stock. A condition to the distribution is the listing of our common stock shares on Nasdaq. We intend to apply to list our common stock on Nasdaq under the symbol “SNDK.” We have not and will not set the initial price of shares of our common stock. The initial price will be established by the public markets.

We cannot predict the price at which shares of our common stock will trade after the distribution. In fact, the combined trading prices, after the spin-off, of shares of our common stock that each WDC stockholder will receive in the distribution and the shares of common stock of WDC held at the record date for the distribution may not equal the “regular-way” trading price of a WDC share immediately prior to completion of the spin-off. The price at which shares of our common stock trade may fluctuate significantly, particularly until an orderly public market develops. Trading prices for our common stock will be determined in the public markets and may be influenced by many factors.

Trading Between the Record Date and the Distribution Date

Beginning on or shortly before the record date for the distribution and continuing up to and including the distribution date, WDC expects that there will be two markets in WDC common stock: a “regular-way” market and an “ex-distribution” market. Shares of WDC common stock that trade on the “regular-way” market will trade with an entitlement to shares of Spinco common stock distributed pursuant to the distribution. Shares of WDC common stock that trade on the “ex-distribution” market will trade without an entitlement to shares of Spinco common stock distributed pursuant to the distribution. Each stockholder trading in WDC shares would make any decision as to whether to trade one or more of such stockholder’s shares in WDC in the “regular-way” market or the “ex-distribution” market. If you sell shares of WDC common stock in the “regular-way” market up to and including through the distribution date, you will be selling your right to receive shares of Spinco common stock in the distribution. If you own shares of WDC common stock as of [●] Pacific time on [●], the record date for the distribution, and sell those shares on the “ex-distribution” market up to and including through the distribution date, you will receive the shares of Spinco common stock that you are entitled to receive pursuant to your ownership as of the record date for the distribution.

Furthermore, beginning shortly before the distribution date and continuing up to and including the distribution date, we expect that there will be a “when-issued” market in our common stock. “When-issued” trading refers to a sale or purchase made conditionally because the security has been authorized but not yet issued. The “when-issued” trading market will be a market for our common stock that will be distributed to holders of WDC common stock on [●], the distribution date. If you own shares of WDC common stock as of [●] Pacific time on [●], the record date for the distribution, you will be entitled to a number of shares of Spinco common stock equal to the distribution ratio for each share of WDC common stock you hold. You may trade this entitlement to our shares, without the WDC shares you own, on the “when-issued” market. On the first trading day following the distribution date, “when-issued” trading with respect to our common stock will end, and “regular-way” trading will begin.

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Transaction and Separation Costs

Spinco will incur certain costs in connection with the consummation of the transaction. We currently estimate that the one-time separation costs we will incur, primarily employee-related costs such as recruitment expenses, costs to establish certain standalone functions and information technology systems, professional services fees and other separation-related costs during our transition to being a stand-alone public company, will be approximately $104 million. Except as otherwise set forth in the separation and distribution agreement, any such costs incurred prior to the completion of the spin-off will be borne by WDC, and any such costs incurred from and after the completion of the spin-off will be borne by the applicable party incurring such costs.

Incurrence/Treatment of Debt

In connection with the separation, we expect to enter into the Facilities. For a more detailed description of the Facilities, see the section of this information statement entitled “Description of Certain Indebtedness” on page 192.

Regulatory Approval

Our registration statement on Form 10, of which this information statement forms a part, must become effective prior to the distribution, and shares of Spinco common stock to be distributed must have been approved for listing on Nasdaq, subject to official notice of distribution. In certain jurisdictions outside the U.S., consents, authorizations, orders or approvals from certain foreign governments are required in order to complete the separation with respect to certain entities and assets which may include, but are not limited to, approvals to merge or demerge, to form new legal entities (including obtaining required registrations and/or licenses or permits) and to transfer assets and/or liabilities (including under certain foreign investment laws). It is currently anticipated that all material transfers will occur without material delays beyond the distribution, but we cannot offer any assurance that such transfers will ultimately occur or not be delayed for an extended period of time. For more information, see the Risk Factor entitled – Certain entities or assets that are part of our separation from WDC may not be transferred to us or may not be transferred to WDC, as applicable, prior to the distribution or at all. Other than the requirements discussed above, we do not believe that any other material governmental or regulatory filings or approvals will be necessary to consummate the distribution.

No Shareholder Vote

No vote of WDC stockholders is required or sought in connection with the spin-off.

No Appraisal Rights

Under the DGCL, WDC stockholders will not have appraisal rights in connection with the distribution.

Background to the Separation and Distribution

As part of WDC’s ongoing strategic planning process, the WDC Board of Directors and senior management regularly review and assess WDC’s long-term goals and opportunities, industry trends, competitive environment and short-and long-term performance in light of WDC’s strategic plan, with the goal of maximizing stockholder value. In connection with these activities, the WDC Board of Directors and senior management meet from time to time in the ordinary course of business to consider and evaluate various courses of action, including business combinations, acquisitions, dispositions, stock buybacks, special dividends, internal restructurings, capital raising, debt financings or refinancings, spin-offs and other transactions.

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In early 2022, the WDC Board of Directors directed WDC management to begin exploring a broad range of strategic alternatives. In connection with this review, WDC engaged Lazard Ltd., as its financial advisor (and subsequently engaged Qatalyst Partners LP and J.P. Morgan as its financial advisors), and Skadden, as its legal advisor. Between February 2022 and June 2022, the WDC Board of Directors considered strategic options, which included a spin-off transaction.

On June 7, 2022, WDC announced that, following constructive dialogue with many of WDC’s stockholders, including Elliott Investment Management L.P., it was reviewing potential strategic alternatives aimed at further optimizing long-term value for its stockholders, and that the Executive Committee of the WDC Board of Directors would oversee the assessment process and fully evaluate a comprehensive range of alternatives, including options for separating WDC’s market-leading flash and HDD franchises.

From June 2022 to October 2023, the WDC Board of Directors engaged in such strategic review. WDC’s financial advisors reached out to multiple strategic parties and financial sponsors regarding a transaction with WDC, including a possible spin-off followed by a merger involving the Flash Business. The WDC Board of Directors thoroughly explored this option, among others, which included extensive due diligence and negotiations. The WDC Board of Directors ultimately determined that such transaction was not actionable at this time. The WDC Board of Directors and the Executive Committee then reviewed the risks and benefits of standalone alternatives, including a spin-off of its Flash Business.

On October 30, 2023, WDC announced that the WDC Board of Directors had completed its strategic review of WDC’s business and, after evaluating a comprehensive range of alternatives, unanimously authorized management to pursue a plan to spin-off the Flash Business from the remaining HDD Business.

The WDC Board of Directors considered other transactions and considerations as part of the full review process, including not proceeding with the spin-off transaction, and reviewed and considered the agreements related to the spin-off. The WDC Board of Directors believes that separating the Flash Business from the remainder of WDC and distributing Spinco shares to WDC stockholders is in the best interests of WDC and its stockholders. For more information, see the sections of this information statement entitled “The Separation and Distribution—General—Reasons for the Spin-Off” and “Risk Factors.”

The WDC Board of Directors unanimously approved the transactions described herein, subject to the WDC Board of Directors declaring the distribution prior to the closing of the spin-off.

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UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES OF THE DISTRIBUTION

The following discussion is a summary of the generally applicable U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be relevant to WDC and to the holders of shares of WDC common stock in connection with the spin-off. This discussion is based on the Code, the Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, judicial interpretations thereof, and administrative rulings and published positions of the IRS, all as in effect as of the date hereof and all of which are subject to change or differing interpretations, possibly with retroactive effect. Any such change could affect the accuracy of the statements and conclusions set forth herein. This summary assumes that the separation will be consummated in accordance with the separation and distribution agreement and as described in this information statement.

Except as specifically described below, this summary is limited to holders of shares of WDC common stock that are U.S. Holders, as defined immediately below. For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. Holder” is a beneficial owner of WDC common stock that is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

This discussion is limited to U.S. Holders of WDC common stock that hold their WDC common stock as “capital assets” within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code (generally, property held for investment). Further, this discussion is for general information only and does not purport to address all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be relevant to a particular holder in light of their particular circumstances, nor does it address the consequences to stockholders subject to special treatment under the United States federal income tax laws, such as: insurance companies; tax-exempt organizations; banks and other financial institutions; pension plans; cooperatives; real estate investment trusts; dealers in securities or currencies; traders that elect to use a mark-to-market method of accounting; certain former U.S. citizens or long-term residents; persons holding shares as part of a straddle, hedge, conversion, constructive sale or other integrated transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes; persons who acquire shares pursuant to any employee share option or otherwise as compensation; persons holding shares through an individual retirement account or other tax-deferred account; persons who actually or constructively own 10% or more of our stock (by vote or value); persons whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar; or partnerships or other entities or arrangements subject to tax as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes or persons holding shares through such entities.

If a partnership (or any other entity or arrangement subject to tax as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) is a beneficial owner of shares of WDC common stock, the tax treatment of a partner in such partnership will generally depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. A partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes that beneficially owns shares of WDC and its partners are urged to consult their tax advisor as to the tax consequences of the spin-off.

In addition, this discussion does not address any U.S. state or local or non-U.S. tax considerations or any U.S. federal estate, gift or alternative minimum tax considerations, or the Medicare tax on certain net investment income.

HOLDERS OF WDC COMMON STOCK SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE PARTICULAR TAX CONSIDERATIONS RELEVANT TO THEM REGARDING THE SPIN-OFF, INCLUDING THE APPLICABILITY AND EFFECT OF U.S. FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND NON-U.S. TAX LAWS.

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Tax Opinion

It is a condition to the completion of the distribution that WDC receives the Tax Opinion from its tax counsel, Skadden, substantially to the effect that, among other things, the distribution, together with certain related transactions, will qualify as a reorganization within the meaning of sections 368(a)(1)(D), 361 and 355 of the Code. This condition may be waived by WDC in its sole discretion.

In rendering the Tax Opinion to be given as of the closing of the distribution, Skadden will rely on (i) customary representations and covenants made by WDC and Spinco, including those contained in certificates of officers of WDC and Spinco and (ii) specified assumptions, including an assumption regarding the completion of the separation, the distribution and certain related transactions in the manner contemplated by the transaction agreements. In addition, Skadden’s ability to provide the Tax Opinion will depend on the absence of changes in existing facts or law between the date of this information statement and the closing date of the distribution. If any of the representations, covenants or assumptions on which Skadden will rely are inaccurate, Skadden may not be able to provide the Tax Opinion, or the tax consequences of the distribution could differ from those described below.

The Tax Opinion will not be binding upon the IRS or any court. We cannot assure you that the IRS will agree with the conclusions expected to be set forth in the Tax Opinion, and it is possible that the IRS or another tax authority could adopt a position contrary to one or all of those conclusions and that a court could sustain that contrary position. If any of the facts, representations, assumptions or undertakings described or made in connection with the Tax Opinion are not correct, are incomplete or have been violated, WDC’s ability to rely on the Tax Opinion could be jeopardized. As of the date of this information statement, we are not aware of any facts or circumstances, however, that would cause these facts, representations or assumptions to be untrue or incomplete or that would cause any of these undertakings to fail to be complied with, in any material respect.

Treatment of the Distribution

Assuming the distribution, together with certain related transactions, qualifies as a reorganization within the meaning of sections 368(a)(1)(D), 361 and 355 of the Code, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

If, notwithstanding the conclusions that we expect to be included in the Tax Opinion, it is ultimately determined that the distribution does not qualify as tax-free under Sections 368(a)(1)(D), 361 and 355 of the Code for U.S.

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