عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

Dell Rides on the AI Wave to New Record High

This photograph shows Dell Technologies' logo during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 28, 2024. (AFP)
This photograph shows Dell Technologies' logo during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 28, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

Dell Rides on the AI Wave to New Record High

This photograph shows Dell Technologies' logo during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 28, 2024. (AFP)
This photograph shows Dell Technologies' logo during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 28, 2024. (AFP)

Dell Technologies shares surged 25% to hit a record high on Friday, following an upbeat annual forecast that indicated the tech equipment maker was benefiting from the AI boom.

The stock climbed to $118.8, and was set to add $17.7 billion to the company's market value and on track to register its best intra-day performance.

The surge provides further evidence that rising AI adoption is driving gains across enterprise technology vendors, and adds to the frenzy on Wall Street following Nvidia's stunning rally.

"We have positioned ourselves well in AI," COO Jeff Clarke said on Thursday, noting that more customers were demanding PCs and servers with AI capabilities.

Orders for the company's AI-optimized servers, including the flagship PowerEdge XE9680, jumped 40% sequentially in the fourth quarter, Clarke said.

At least nine brokerages raised their price targets on Dell after the results. Currently, over three-fourths of the analysts have a "buy" or higher rating with a median target price of $113.

More than 31 million Dell shares had changed hands as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern time, more than seven times the stock's 30-day average trading volume.

"Dell's AI business showed strong progress on key metrics... commentary on the PC market was similar to HP's: that a rebound is coming, but it is being pushed out to the second half of the year," said analysts at Bernstein.

PC and enterprise technology vendor HP's sales declined for a seventh straight quarter in the most recent three-month period.

The recent upside in the business comes after Dell struggled for most part of the last two years as worldwide computer sales sharply declined. While revenue fell less-than-expected in its fourth quarter, annual revenue dropped for the first time since re-listing in 2018.

Dell forecast revenue between $91 billion and $95 billion for its current fiscal year ending January 2025, largely above analysts' average estimate of $92.07 billion.

Most Viewed

 
 
Technology

UK's Nothing Splashes Color on New Phones to Shake Up 'Boring' Tech

Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, poses for pictures at Nothing headquarters in Kings Cross, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, poses for pictures at Nothing headquarters in Kings Cross, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
TT
TT

UK's Nothing Splashes Color on New Phones to Shake Up 'Boring' Tech

Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, poses for pictures at Nothing headquarters in Kings Cross, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, poses for pictures at Nothing headquarters in Kings Cross, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

Nothing, the smartphone maker founded in London by Carl Pei, launched new mid-tier handsets and headphones on Thursday, adding new colors to its white, black and grey palette to appeal to digitally adept younger customers.

Pei, a Swedish national who previously co-founded Chinese brand OnePlus, started Nothing in 2020 with the aim of making consumer technology less monotonous. He said smartphones had become "kind of boring", with only incremental improvements in batteries, screens and cameras.

The Phone (4a), available in pink and blue as well as black and white, and Phone (4a) Pro, ⁠available in pink, ⁠black and silver, will retail at 349 pounds or 349 euros, and 499 pounds or 479 euros, respectively.

Both phones feature improved cameras and the company's signature glyph interface, a system of LED lights on the back.

Headphone (a) has up to five days of battery life and integrated physical controls in the ear cups, the company said. It will be available in pink, ⁠yellow, black and white, priced at 149 pounds, $199 and 159 euros.

"We're giving our portfolio a splash of color and secondly we're advancing some of our AI initiatives," Reuters quoted Pei as saying.

"We started Nothing to break that monotony and make tech more fun," he said in an interview.

Nothing's first phone in 2022 stood out in a sea of similar Android devices with its transparent design and distinctive backlit glyph features.

Pei said the company was building scale and capability so it could launch more novel AI-focused products.

"We cannot just create audio products and smartphones because those are basically already solved problems," he ⁠said.

"I think ⁠we need to usher in a new wave of human-computer interaction. That will be the next step for us."

The company, which raised $200 million at a $1.3 billion valuation last year, plans to spin off its India-focused, budget-oriented devices brand called CMF.

Pei said Nothing was considering listing that business, but had not made a firm decision. "India has one of the most active capital markets in the world," he said.

He said Nothing itself would be IPO-ready by the end of 2028, though the target was "more like an internal call to arms to just get our act together, build all the structures we need".

"Whether we pull the trigger or not really depends on the market conditions and our plans at that time," he said.

Technology

Google to Open German Center for 'AI Development'

Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
TT
TT

Google to Open German Center for 'AI Development'

Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Google has launched a massive AI investment drive in Germany. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

Google will open an AI center in Berlin on Thursday, the latest sign of Europe's deepening reliance on US firms in cutting edge technologies despite the continent's stated aim to catch up with its rivals.

Germany's ministry for digital affairs told AFP the center will bring together cloud computing and data infrastructure, "AI development" operations as well as a space for cooperation between start-ups and research centers.

Europe is struggling to gain ground in the battle for AI dominance with the United States and China, which are pumping vast sums into the field and producing the most advanced models underpinning the technology.

The Google project is part of a 5.5 billion euro ($6.4 billion) investment drive into Europe's top economy announced by the US tech titan in November, planned to include a new data center.

The firm said at the time it would renovate its Berlin office to add three floors equipped with meeting rooms, a new conference room and a demo space but made no mention of an AI center in the capital.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition has signaled it wants to make progress in the area as part of efforts to revive the struggling economy, and there have been a flurry of announcements related to AI recently.

"I want technological leadership to once again become the core of our economic model," said Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil last month at the opening of an industrial AI hub, spearheaded by German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom and US chip juggernaut Nvidia.

- 'Enormous challenges' -

But while efforts are being made to build up infrastructure and data storage capacities, the "challenges are enormous" for Germany, said Janis Hecker of the digital business association Bitkom.

The government still "underestimates the importance of these technologies for value creation, but also for sovereignty and the defense of our values", he said.

The United States builds more computing capacity each year than Germany has in total, the group says.

According to its calculations, one-thousandth of the proposed central government budget for 2026 is dedicated to AI, and only a fraction of a massive pot of funding to modernize the country's infrastructure is dedicated to cutting-edge technologies.

Against this backdrop, Google's investments in Germany are a "big win", Bitkom believes.

But such investments add to concerns about Europe's technological dependencies on the United States at a time of strained ties under the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Even when American tech giants are not the main players in a project, they often still play a vital role in areas from providing cloud infrastructure to cutting-edge semiconductors.

At a summit on so-called "digital sovereignty" in November, Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron backed the idea of favoring European firms in a bid to develop regional champions.

"Sovereignty does not mean self-sufficiency, but strategic capacity for action," says Barbara Engels of the IW Institute.

She also welcomed Google's projects but said that "we must use this infrastructure while developing our own capabilities".

Antonio Krueger, head of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), believes it makes no sense to try to overtake China and the United States in areas such as producing the most advanced AI models.

Instead, Europe should leverage its advantages in industry, he said, adding that data collected by companies can by use to train smaller AI models to "solve very specific tasks".

In this area, "the race is still wide open," he said.

Technology

AI May be Creating Instead of Destroying Jobs for Now, ECB Blog Argues

FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
TT
TT

AI May be Creating Instead of Destroying Jobs for Now, ECB Blog Argues

FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo

The increasing use of artificial intelligence by firms may be creating some jobs in the euro zone rather than destroying them as many fear, a European Central Bank blog post argued on Wednesday.

Economists have been debating whether AI could put white collar staff out of work, and a recent study by Germany's Ifo Institute found that more than a quarter of German firms expect AI to ⁠lead to job ⁠cuts in the next five years.

But the ECB's own Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises found that companies making significant use of AI are more likely to take on additional staff ⁠in the near term.

"In other words, AI-intensive firms tend, on average, to hire rather than fire," the blog post, which is not necessarily the view of the ECB, said.

Firms planning to invest in AI are also more likely to have positive expectations for future employment growth, the blog argued.

"This is true regardless of the level of planned AI investment ⁠and ⁠suggests that a pause in hiring due to investment in AI technology is also unlikely over the next year," the blog, written by two ECB staff economists, said.

However, the outlook may change on the longer horizon, the authors said.

Most of the gloomier surveys cover longer horizons than the ECB's own question and the outlook could change once AI starts to significantly transform production processes.