Summer 2025 Intern, Applications Engineering

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

Western Digital is seeking an intern to join the Advanced Process Control team in Fremont/San Jose, CA. As an Applications Engineering intern at Western Digital, you will help analyze and optimize production process recipes using AI-driven techniques, specifically LLMs, to improve yield, reduce variability and enhance process control systems. You will work closely with our team of experienced engineers, gain hands-on experience and exposure to complex wafer manufacturing processes.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Developing and deploying LLM-based algorithms to analyze wafer process manufacturing recipes and identify key process parameters for Advanced Process Control and Anomaly Detection.
• Collaborate with process engineers and data scientists to extract insights from recipe contents and recipe data, including input and output parameters.
• Leverage LLMs to enhance predictive models for process optimization, anomaly detection and automated decision making in wafer manufacturing fab.
• Work on integrating LLM-based systems with existing Advanced Process Control framework, supporting real-time decision making for recipe optimization.
• Present findings, reports and recommendations on model performance and process improvements.

Qualifications

REQUIRED

• Current students seeking a bachelor’s degree in data science, applied mathematics, computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, or related field with a graduation date between December 2025 and June 2026.
• Right to work in the US without requiring Western Digital to commence or sponsor an immigration case to employ you at any point in the future required. (for example, H-1B or other employment- based immigration case)
• Candidates who will not require relocation to Fremont or San Jose, CA will be preferred.

TECHNICAL

• Strong knowledge of Large Language Models (LLM), NLP, and machine learning techniques with a focus on practical applications.
• Ability to approach problems logically and solve complex problems by uncovering actionable insights.
• Critical thinking and analytical skills with passion in applying AI to real-world challenges in process optimization.
• A strong grasp of data structures and algorithms is essential for solving complex problems and optimizing models.
• Well-versed with one or more languages like Python, Java, C#, C++ with hands-on experience using machine learning frameworks.
• Familiarity with AI model training, validation and performance metrics.
• Familiarity with data queries, data processing and database management systems like Oracle,
• MSSQL, MySQL.

SKILLS

• Experience working on group projects or in a team environment.
• Ability to collaborate with team members, listen to feedback, and contribute positively to
• discussions.
• Eagerness to learn new technologies and programming languages as per project requirements.
• Ability to adapt to different tasks and projects as the team’s needs evolve.
• Good communication skills are important for collaborating with team members, stakeholders, and
• presenting technical results and concepts to diverse audiences.

Additional Information

Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expres