Summer 2026 Intern - Quantum Computing or Embedded AI

Company Description

At Western Digital, our vision is to power global innovation and push the boundaries of technology to make what you thought was once impossible, possible.

At our core, Western Digital is a company of problem solvers. People achieve extraordinary things given the right technology. For decades, we’ve been doing just that—our technology helped people put a man on the moon and capture the first-ever picture of a black hole.

We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, HDDs, and platforms for business, creative professionals, and consumers alike under our Western Digital®, WD®, WD_BLACK™, and Sandisk® Professional Brands.

We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest-growth organizations in the world. From enabling systems to make cities safer and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and hyperscale cloud providers, to meeting the massive and ever-growing data storage needs of the AI era, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future.

Today’s exceptional challenges require your unique skills. Together, we can build the future of data storage.

Job Description

This internship opportunity is in Western Digital's Research organization, which tackles advanced long-horizon problems related to data storage, computation and communication. In addition to supporting magnetic storage and memory roadmap of Western Digital, we are focused on several key areas that are well aligned with our existing experimental and theoretical skills, and existing laboratory facilities

Western Digital Research has a number of projects for ambitious graduate students. Our group has projects emphasizing either embedded AI inference or the design and testing of superconducting quantum computing qubits. Depending on the skills of the student, the responsibilities may be divided into one of two tracks.

Track 1:

As an Intern in Quantum Computing, your project will require several of the following tasks:

1. Assist in the design and testing of superconducting quantum computing qubits 
2. Collaborate with team members on quantum computing experiments and simulations
3. Propose and simulate laboratory test structures for evaluating the performance of our qubit designs
4. Analyze and interpret experimental data using various data analysis and visualization tools
5. Participate in the development of quantum information theory concepts and applications
6. Assist in the preparation of research reports and presentations
7. Engage in literature reviews to stay updated on the latest advancements in quantum computing
8. Support the team in maintaining and calibrating quantum computing equipment
9. Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to integrate quantum computing solutions with other technologies
10. Participate in regular team meetings and contribute ideas for project improvements
11. Assist in documenting research findings and maintaining accurate records of experiments
12. Contribute to the development of quantum error correction techniques

Track 2:

As an intern in Embedded AI Inference, your project will require several of the following tasks:

1. Assist in the fine-tuning and optimization of AI models for embedded systems
2. Implement and test machine learning algorithms on various hardware platform
3. Create error models to simulate the impact of noise or circuit variability in analog inference accelerators
4. Contribute to the design of efficient neural network architectures for resource-constrained devices
5. Collaborate with the team to improve inference speed and accuracy on embedded devices
6. Participate in data collection, preprocessing, and augmentation for AI model training
7. Assist in the evaluation and benchmarking of AI models on different embedded platforms
8. Contribute to the development of firmware tools and frameworks for embedded AI deployment
9. Support the integration of AI models with embedded software and hardware systems
10. Engage in literature reviews to stay updated on the latest advancements in embedded AI
11. Assist in the preparation of technical documentation and research reports

In either track, you will be part of a broader collaborative team, which places strong emphasis on communication skills and team spirit, in addition to strong technical skills.

This position is part of our Early Career program at WD. Our Early Career program is designed to support individuals beginning their professional career by providing the foundational training through a structured onboarding, mentorship, and development curriculum.

Qualifications

Skills of general applicability to either track:

• Currently pursuing a PhD degree in Physics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field