Dell Technologies shares surged nearly 40% before markets opened on Friday after the company posted record quarterly results and raised its outlook for the year, driven by high demand for Nvidia-powered AI servers.
With this, Dell could add more than $80 billion to its market value.
The company reported first-quarter revenue of $43.8 billion for its 2027 fiscal year, far ahead of analyst expectations of about $35 billion.
Earnings also came in stronger than expected, with adjusted earnings per share reaching $4.86 compared with forecasts of roughly $2.94. Net income climbed 256% year-on-year to $3.44 billion.
The strongest growth came from Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group, the division responsible for servers and data-centre systems. Revenue in that business jumped 181% to $29 billion as companies continued spending heavily on AI infrastructure.
Dell noted that AI server sales alone reached $16.1 billion during the quarter, up 757% from a year earlier.
The company also booked $24.4 billion in new AI server orders, pushing its backlog to $51.3 billion. That means Dell still has tens of billions of dollars’ worth of systems waiting to be delivered over the coming quarters.
Investors focused heavily on the growing backlog because it gives Dell unusual visibility into future demand at a time when many technology companies still find it difficult to predict how long the AI spending wave will last.
Following the results, Dell raised its full-year revenue forecast to between $165 billion and $169 billion, up from earlier guidance of $138 billion to $142 billion.
The company now expects AI server revenue to hit roughly $60 billion this year, compared with its previous estimate of $50 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share guidance also increased to $17.90 from $12.90.
Dell’s recent growth has been tied to Nvidia, whose graphics processors power most of the company’s AI systems. The results came only days after Nvidia itself reported record data-centre revenue of $75.2 billion, up 92% from a year earlier.
Together, the numbers from both companies point to aggressive spending on AI infrastructure by major technology firms and cloud providers.
Dell has benefited from orders linked to companies including Alphabet, Amazon and CoreWeave, as well as large AI data-centre projects in Europe.
The company has also expanded its partnership with Nvidia through Project Helix, an initiative designed to help businesses build and deploy AI systems more quickly.
The latest earnings added to signs that demand for enterprise AI infrastructure remains strong across the industry. Lenovo recently reported strong AI server growth, while Super Micro Computer continues expanding manufacturing for GPU-based servers.
Technology companies are expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI data centres this year as competition around AI services intensifies.
Before the recent shares surge, Dell spent years being seen mainly as a PC and storage company. Now, investors view it as one of the major suppliers benefiting from the global vision to build AI infrastructure.
