Storage Vendor DDN Taps Former NetApp Executive as CFO in Pre-IPO Preparation

Storage Vendor DDN Taps Former NetApp Executive as CFO in Pre-IPO Preparation

DataDirect Networks, the data storage company whose systems power Nvidia's AI supercomputers, has hired a new finance chief as it lays groundwork for a potential public offering, signaling the latest AI infrastructure play eyeing the public markets.

The Chatsworth, California-based company appointed James Lau as chief financial officer, bringing aboard a veteran who spent nearly two decades at NetApp, most recently as vice president of corporate financial planning and analysis. The move comes as DDN—which counts Nvidia as both a customer and technology partner—positions itself to capitalize on surging demand for the storage infrastructure underpinning generative AI workloads.

For finance leaders tracking the AI infrastructure buildout, DDN's CFO hire offers a window into how second-tier suppliers are professionalizing their operations ahead of what many expect to be a wave of AI-adjacent IPOs. While Nvidia dominates headlines with its GPU sales, companies like DDN provide the less-glamorous but essential plumbing—high-performance storage systems that feed data to AI training clusters at the speeds modern models demand.

The timing is deliberate. DDN has been working with investment banks on IPO preparations, though the company hasn't committed to a specific timeline or disclosed target valuation ranges. Lau's appointment suggests the company is moving beyond exploratory conversations into the operational readiness phase that precedes a filing—hiring the kind of public-company-tested CFO that underwriters and institutional investors expect to see.

At NetApp, Lau held responsibility for financial planning across a $6 billion-plus revenue base, giving him experience with the quarterly earnings cadence, investor relations demands, and SEC reporting requirements that DDN would face as a public entity. His background in corporate FP&A, rather than investment banking or accounting, suggests DDN prioritized operational finance expertise over deal-making credentials—a choice that may reflect confidence in its growth trajectory rather than need for balance sheet engineering.

DDN's Nvidia partnership has become its calling card in recent years. The company's storage systems are integrated into Nvidia's DGX SuperPOD reference architectures, the blueprints that enterprises and cloud providers use when building large-scale AI infrastructure. As Nvidia has seen its data center revenue explode—growing more than threefold year-over-year in recent quarters—DDN has positioned itself as a critical adjacent supplier, though the privately-held company hasn't disclosed its own growth metrics.

The challenge for any DDN IPO will be demonstrating that its Nvidia relationship translates into durable competitive advantage rather than customer concentration risk. Finance leaders evaluating the eventual S-1 filing will scrutinize revenue mix, customer diversification, and whether DDN's technology maintains differentiation as hyperscalers build more storage capabilities in-house.

The broader question is whether public markets remain receptive to AI infrastructure plays after the initial wave of enthusiasm. While Nvidia's success has lifted many boats, investors have grown more discriminating about which picks-and-shovels companies merit premium valuations versus those simply riding proximity to the AI boom.

For now, DDN is making the moves that precede a filing: hiring a public-company CFO, presumably tightening financial controls, and preparing the operational infrastructure for quarterly earnings calls. Whether those preparations lead to an actual IPO will depend on market conditions when the company is ready—and whether investors still have appetite for another AI infrastructure story.