# Dell Technologies One of the world's largest technology companies, Dell Technologies is a major OEM for servers, storage, PCs, and enterprise infrastructure. Founded in 1984 by Michael Dell from a University of Texas dorm room, the company is headquartered in Round Rock, TX and trades on NYSE under the ticker DELL. Dell has become one of the single biggest beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure buildout, shipping [[NVIDIA]] GPU-equipped PowerEdge servers at scale to hyperscalers, enterprises, and sovereign AI projects. ## AI Server Dominance Dell's AI-optimized server business has exploded. In Q1 FY2027 (reported May 2026), AI server revenue hit $16.1 billion in a single quarter — up 757% year over year. Total quarterly revenue reached $43.8 billion, up 88% YoY. The company booked $24.4 billion in total AI orders for the quarter and raised its full-year AI server revenue forecast to $60 billion. Full-year revenue guidance was raised to roughly $167 billion at the midpoint. DELL shares surged 32.76% in a single session — the stock's best day ever — and are up roughly 234% in 2026. Dell PowerEdge servers running [[NVIDIA]] GPUs (H100, H200, Blackwell) are a primary platform for both AI training and inference workloads. ## Corporate History Dell went through one of the most celebrated financial engineering transactions in modern corporate history. In 2013, Michael Dell partnered with [[Silver Lake]] on a $24.4 billion leveraged buyout to take the company private, buying out public shareholders at $13.65 per share. The deal was controversial — shareholder Carl Icahn fought it — but ultimately closed. Dell used the private years to restructure, culminating in the $67 billion acquisition of EMC Corporation in 2016, which brought VMware into the Dell portfolio. Dell returned to public markets in 2018 via a complex tracking-stock transaction. In 2021, Dell spun off its 81% stake in VMware to shareholders; [[Broadcom]] subsequently acquired VMware for $69 billion in 2023. ## Enterprise Portfolio Beyond AI servers, Dell remains a major force in enterprise storage (PowerStore, PowerScale, ECS object storage), networking, and the traditional PC business (Latitude, XPS, Alienware). The Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) — which houses servers and storage — has become the growth engine, while the Client Solutions Group (PCs) provides steady cash flow. ## Political Connections Michael Dell is one of the wealthiest people in Texas and politically connected across both parties. In December 2025, Michael and Susan Dell committed $6.25 billion to fund investment accounts for 25 million American children under the "Trump Accounts" program signed into law as part of the president's signature legislation. Dell Technologies maintains a corporate PAC that donates to candidates on both sides of the aisle. The company's Round Rock headquarters and massive Texas workforce make it a fixture in state politics. ## KB Relevance Dell sits at the center of the AI hardware supply chain tracked in [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]] — the company translates [[NVIDIA]] GPU production into rack-scale systems that fill the data centers driving AI compute demand. The [[Silver Lake]] leveraged buyout and the VMware/[[Broadcom]] transaction chain make Dell a case study in private equity's role in reshaping enterprise tech. Michael Dell's political engagement, including the Trump Accounts donation, connects the company to the vault's broader tracking of tech-billionaire political influence. ## See Also - [[NVIDIA]] - [[Silver Lake]] - [[Broadcom]] - [[Artificial Intelligence]] - [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]]