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During its latest earnings call, Dell said it expects $19 billion in AI server revenue during Q3, while its full-year guidance calls for AI server revenue of $74 billion
In sum – what to know:
AI orders surge – Dell booked a record $60.9 billion in AI orders during the quarter and exited with a $95 billion AI backlog.
Deployments intensify – AI infrastructure projects are becoming increasingly complex, with some requiring upwards of 50 unique designs to optimize performance, power, cooling, and the data center environment.
Growth broadens – Traditional servers, networking, and storage also posted strong growth, while Dell raised its full-year revenue forecast to $192 billion.
Dell Technologies’ AI infrastructure business continued to accelerate in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, ended July 31, with the company booking a record $60.9 billion in AI orders and exiting the period with a $95 billion backlog as demand broadened across neo clouds, sovereigns and enterprises.
AI server revenue reached $16.4 billion during the quarter, while Dell said its AI customer count had surpassed 6,500.
“AI server momentum accelerated and we set records across the board, including $60.9 billion in orders, $16.4 billion in revenue, and $95 billion in ending backlog,” Dell’s chief operating officer and vice chairman Jeff Clarke said during the quarterly call.
Dell said the scale and complexity of AI deployments are reinforcing demand for its engineering, design, and deployment capabilities. Some engagements require upwards of 50 unique designs as customers optimize infrastructure for workload performance, power, cooling and the data center environment. “AI infrastructure requires much more than assembling and delivering components,” Clarke said.
Dell also highlighted its ability to deploy infrastructure at scale, saying it had become the first to ship rack systems engineered on the Nvidia Vera Rubin platform.
The company expects AI infrastructure growth to continue into the second half of its fiscal year. For the third quarter, Dell expects $19 billion in AI server revenue, while its full-year guidance calls for AI server revenue of $74 billion, representing growth of three times year over year.
AI is also contributing to demand outside dedicated AI servers. Clarke said customers are increasingly using traditional CPU compute capacity to support AI and agentic workflows, while Dell is seeing early signs of increased storage demand as customers prepare, manage, and protect growing volumes of data.
That broader demand helped Dell post record overall results. Second-quarter revenue increased 58% year over year to $47 billion. Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) revenue increased 89% to a record $31.8 billion, with operating income reaching $4.8 billion. Traditional server and networking revenue rose 122% to $10.5 billion, while storage revenue increased 26% to $4.9 billion.
Dell said traditional server demand is being driven both by customers refreshing and modernizing existing data centers and by demand for CPU capacity supporting AI and agentic workflows. The company said it gained more than 10 points of traditional server share over the past two quarters.
Storage is also becoming a larger contributor. Dell said demand for its IP storage portfolio had grown above market for six consecutive quarters, with strong growth across PowerFlex, PowerStore, PowerProtect, and PowerVault.
The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance by $25 billion to $192 billion at the midpoint, representing growth of roughly 70%. Dell expects ISG revenue to grow roughly 120%, with traditional servers growing just over 100%, storage in the mid-teens and CSG revenue in the mid-teens.
For the third quarter, Dell expects revenue of $49 billion at the midpoint, up roughly 80% year over year, including approximately $19 billion in AI server revenue.
Clarke said the company’s broader opportunity extends beyond AI-optimized infrastructure, pointing to data center modernization across both AI and non-AI workloads. “AI requires modern disaggregated architectures that keep data accessible and in motion across compute, storage, and networking,” he said.
