Microsoft & Western Digital

Microsoft: Microsoft shares were down, contributing to the drag on tech-heavy indices.

Western Digital: Western Digital shares popped, benefiting from the upbeat chip outlook.

Microsoft: Microsoft is a company where Manuvir Das previously held a senior leadership position, indicating his relevant experience in the tech industry.

Western Digital: Western Digital divested Western Digital — Sandisk, allowing both companies to focus on their niches. Western Digital's stock has also surged due to strong Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings, a dividend increase, and analyst upgrades, benefiting from AI-driven storage demand for hard disk drives (HDDs).

Microsoft: Microsoft has signed long-term cloud contracts with IREN, indicating its investment in data center capacity for AI workloads.

Western Digital: Western Digital, a storage and memory peer, saw its stock jump following Micron Technology's strong results, benefiting from the overall positive sentiment in the chip market.