Dell Technologies reported an AI server backlog of $9.5 billion at the end of its latest quarter, underscoring the company's accelerating role in enterprise AI infrastructure. During the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 9, 2026, CEO and founder Michael Dell outlined a broadening demand landscape spanning both AI workloads and a resurgent traditional compute business.
AI-related orders converted $1.3 billion over the prior year, according to Dell. The company also cited a 20% increase in PC revenue during the latest quarter and a 26% gain in IP storage growth. Operating expenses fell to approximately 8% of sales, described as a record low, while management guided the traditional compute business to grow 100% in fiscal 2027.
Dell identified a large replacement cycle underway, pointing to roughly 400 million PCs more than four years old and 1.3 million servers of 13th generation or earlier that qualify as upgrade candidates. The company said it now serves approximately 6,500 enterprise AI Factory customers.
Dell emphasized the centrality of its storage business, describing its enterprise storage unit — branded PowerScale and ObjectScale — as the number-one player globally, asserting it is larger than the second-, third- and often fourth-place competitors combined. The firm also noted that an estimated 85% of enterprise data remains on-premises, reinforcing the case for managed infrastructure.
On the international front, Dell highlighted that roughly half of the sovereign AI global opportunity lies outside the United States. Among the top 50 countries by GDP, Dell typically sees two or three sovereign AI initiatives per nation. However, adoption in many international markets may lag the U.S. by 12 to 18 months.
An estimated 10% to 15% of companies fully understand the strategic importance of AI today, Dell said, characterizing adoption as a gradual process. "It's a multi-speed world," Michael Dell said during the conference, moderated by Goldman Sachs analyst Kat Murphy.
Supply-side constraints remain a concern. High memory costs have led some customers to defer purchases, and Dell expects a structural semiconductor shortage to worsen in 2027 compared with 2026.
Dell has been pursuing internal modernization for roughly three years, deploying automation and agentic workflows across its own operations. On the competitive front, the company acknowledged the outsized roles played by Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google and Meta in driving AI demand, without disclosing specific revenue contributions from each.
Looking ahead, Michael Dell said the distinction between traditional servers and AI servers will soon disappear. "In five years, are we going to be talking about traditional servers and AI servers? No, it is just all going to be servers," he said. He also stressed the importance of data quality in AI outcomes: "No data, no AI. Bad data, bad AI."
