{ "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b98-491cf8c853e8", "docSlug": "3b36a8e60d92", "documentTitle": "Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG)", "authorId": "53_Kerrisdale_Capital", "authorName": "Kerrisdale Capital", "documentKindSlug": "research-note", "documentKindLabel": "Research note", "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller", "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller", "presentationDate": "2025-09-01 00:00:00", "orientation": "portrait", "aspectRatio": 0.77272725, "pageNumber": 24, "pageCount": 35, "prevPage": 23, "nextPage": 25, "slideType": "villain_critique", "function": "expose_gap", "density": "overcrowded", "nDataPoints": 0, "notes": "The slide uses a series of quotes from industry executives to build a bearish case against Pure Storage's competitive moat.", "elementsJson": [ "paragraph", "quote_block" ], "metadataConfidence": 0.95, "imagePath": null, "slideHref": "/slides/019dd923-622c-750b-8b98-491cf8c853e8/24", "deckHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b98-491cf8c853e8", "deckJsonHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b98-491cf8c853e8.json", "deckAnchorHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b98-491cf8c853e8#slide-24", "components": [ { "bbox": null, "kind": "callout", "text": "We uncovered notable skepticism on the defensibility of Pure’s position at Meta. Few put it past Meta to eventually develop its own solution off the back of Pure’s hard work.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Visual emphasis", "toolSlug": "visual-emphasis", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd952-fb90-708a-8691-a09112c0c35c", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.12, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.09 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "workloads have already adopted VAST Data. The emergence of these players may be one reason why Pure has been relatively muted on its AI opportunity (and we discuss another below). Pure's software is performing a relatively limited set of functions that, while important to manage the inherent limitations of QLC, are not foreign to the industry. We see all these players beginning to encroach on Pure's core competencies.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "069b698a-5d6b-4505-aa08-7c7ae62f6f97", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.08, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.71 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "We don't believe these are mere sour grapes, as none of these perspectives come from competitors who lost out to Pure. Moreover, Hammerspace is already working with Meta on its AI infrastructure, and our research found that Meta selected WEKA for its internal EDA data infrastructure (a very high performance yet admittedly narrow application).", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "0ca58099-79d2-4bea-b51e-46a34e0db54f", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.07, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.81 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Ultimately, there are several bearish interpretations of the Meta arrangement. Most industry sources with whom we spoke believe that Meta would have built the capability internally if they felt it was something that offered differentiation. Another potential takeaway is that Meta saw little to no value or differentiation in the DFM hardware architecture as implemented by Pure.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "3408100f-3232-4896-b7aa-924ee5bd46eb", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.04, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.48 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "We uncovered notable skepticism on the defensibility of Pure's position at Meta. Few put it past Meta to eventually develop its own solution off the back of Pure's hard work.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "87893d0a-1451-4431-8930-3d062b26b680", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.06, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.62 }, "kind": "quote", "text": "Even if they do buy a software product, [Meta will] flat out tell you, 'hey, this is great, we're gonna try this for a while, but we'll probably reverse engineer something ourselves to effectively function this way in the next 18 to 24 months.'", "attrs": null, "subkind": "testimonial", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "32fa3eab-82b6-453c-9d1e-677b6eca74b0", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.08, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.38 }, "kind": "quote", "text": "Right now [Pure] is differentiated. If you give me a couple of months, it won't be. We're doing something with NVIDIA Spectrum-X cards and BlueField cards that's gonna change all that...", "attrs": null, "subkind": "testimonial", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "704d72f1-5d0e-4ab5-bb44-bba95dda8448", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.06, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.53 }, "kind": "quote", "text": "This is 100% reversible...Meta doesn't use any kind of proprietary format that would lock them into a vendor platform. They could swap this out to their heart's content as fast or as slowly as they want.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "testimonial", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "b0b7424c-1cc4-4619-93f1-46feaea673cd", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.15, "w": 0.78, "x": 0.11, "y": 0.21 }, "kind": "quote", "text": "I gave you only a handful of things that really need to be addressed...if you go inside [the large storage OEMs], they're all scared. They're all scared of companies like VAST and WEKA", "attrs": null, "subkind": "testimonial", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "b5e1eba4-ba42-4d51-b969-72453f9c160a", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": null, "kind": "quote", "text": "\"I gave you only a handful of things that really need to be addressed...if you go inside [the large storage OEMs], they're all scared. They're all scared of companies like VAST and WEKA\" — Executive at VAST Data and former Pure employee; \"Right now [Pure] is differentiated. If you give me a couple of months, it won't be.\" — Executive at WEKA and former Pure employee; \"This is 100% reversible...Meta doesn't use any kind of proprietary format that would lock them into a vendor platform.\" — CTO at storage system competitor; \"Even if they do buy a software product, [Meta will] flat out tell you, ‘hey, this is great, we’re gonna try this for a while, but we’ll probably reverse engineer something ourselves to effectively function this way in the next 18 to 24 months.’” — Executive at VAST Data and former Pure employee.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Authority citation", "toolSlug": "authority-citation", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd952-fb90-708a-8691-a56249296c24", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null } ], "metrics": [], "tools": [], "frameworks": [], "arcBeats": [], "loops": [ { "to": 32, "from": 5, "name": "Cost Of Inaction", "slug": "27-cost-of-inaction", "bestFor": "Urgent budget requests, compliance, risk mitigation", "matchId": "f175e9df-40bd-4f68-b964-eed15e12ff5a", "evidence": "The document highlights the risks of investing in Pure Storage", "position": 0, "objective": "To highlight the risks of investing in Pure Storage", "structure": "The Status Quo -> The Hidden Costs Accumulating -> The Future State of Inaction -> The Tipping Point", "confidence": 0.7, "description": "Quantify what happens if the audience does nothing" } ], "imagePathAlt": null, "thumbSrc": null, "thumbSrcAlt": null, "locked": true }