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Dell boosts growth targets as AI server demand soars

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Dell Technologies has nearly doubled its profit growth forecast for the next four years, confident that booming demand for artificial intelligence servers will sustain its momentum. The company now expects adjusted earnings per share to grow at least 15% annually, compared to its earlier projection of about 8%, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The tech giant, which counts Elon Musk’s xAI and cloud computing firm CoreWeave among its major clients, also raised its revenue growth expectations to between 7% and 9% per year, up from a prior range of 3% to 4%.

The surging need for high-performance servers powering AI platforms like ChatGPT has transformed Dell into one of the leading beneficiaries of the generative AI revolution. Analysts say Dell’s large-scale operations, global supply chain, and deep ties with major buyers give it a cost and volume edge over competitors such as Super Micro.

CEO Michael Dell emphasized that customers are “hungry for AI” and the computing infrastructure needed to deploy it at scale. He added that the company is still in the early stages of AI adoption despite two years of strong growth.

Dell reiterated its fiscal targets for the year and maintained its projection for AI server shipments to reach $20 billion in fiscal 2026. The company now forecasts 11% to 14% long-term annual revenue growth for its Infrastructure Solutions Group — which includes storage, software, and servers — up from 6% to 8% previously. Meanwhile, the client solutions segment, including personal computers, is expected to grow at a modest 2% to 3%.

Chip Cooling Startup Corintis Raises $24 Million, Adds Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Board

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Swiss startup Corintis, which develops advanced liquid cooling systems for semiconductors, announced it has raised $24 million in a Series A round and added Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to its board. The move comes as demand surges for efficient cooling solutions amid the AI-driven boom in high-power chips.

Corintis, based in Lausanne, was valued at about $400 million after the latest funding, a source told Reuters. The company’s technology has already been tested by Microsoft, a customer, which found it up to three times more efficient than conventional cooling systems.

Unlike traditional air-based systems—or most liquid cooling solutions that only draw heat from a chip’s surface—Corintis uses microscopic liquid channels etched inside the chip itself, allowing for more efficient heat removal while reducing power and water consumption.

The company designs its cooling systems using software automation and produces cold plates—metal blocks that transfer heat from chips into circulating liquid—in Europe. These can serve as drop-in upgrades for existing setups or be integrated directly into new chips.

“Right now we are able to produce around 100,000 cold plates per year. Next year we are ramping up to around 1 million,” co-founder and CEO Remco van Erp said. He launched the company in 2022 alongside COO Sam Harrison and another co-founder after spinning out of Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology.

The $24 million round was led by BlueYard Capital, with participation from Founderful, Acequia Capital, Celsius Industries, and XTX Ventures. Including earlier funding, Corintis has now raised $33.4 million.

Corintis also appointed Geoff Lyon, founder and former CEO of liquid-cooling firm CoolIT, to its board. Lip-Bu Tan joined as a director before becoming Intel’s CEO in March, and also serves as chairman of venture capital firm Walden International.

The new funds will support team growth—expanding to 70 employees by year-end from 55 today—scaling up manufacturing, and opening U.S. offices to be closer to major customers.

OpenAI Expands Stargate Scope, Eyes Debt Financing to Secure Chips

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OpenAI is broadening the scope of its massive Stargate infrastructure project, originally unveiled at the White House earlier this year as a $500 billion initiative with partners including SoftBank and Oracle. Executives now say Stargate encompasses nearly all of OpenAI’s work involving data centers and AI chips, stretching beyond the original plan.

Initially conceived as a new entity for mega-scale AI infrastructure, Stargate has since expanded to cover projects predating its January announcement. OpenAI argues that only massive computing systems like Stargate can power the next phase of the AI revolution.

To finance its chip needs, the company plans to adopt creative strategies including debt financing and chip leasing, estimating savings of 10–15% by renting instead of buying GPUs outright. A newly announced partnership with Nvidia—worth up to $100 billion—will provide $10 billion in upfront cash and long-term backing for data center expansion.

CEO Sam Altman, who has long argued that data centers are the lifeblood of AI, said his goal is to reach the point of building “a gigawatt of new AI infrastructure every week.” Speaking at a briefing in Abilene, Texas—home to Stargate’s flagship site—he acknowledged investor concerns about a potential bubble but insisted long-term growth justifies the scale.

The Abilene facility, under construction by Oracle and Crusoe, spans more than 1,100 acres and employs thousands. The site is said to contain fiber optic cable long enough to stretch from Earth to the Moon and back.

Stargate’s rollout has faced delays due to partner negotiations and site selection challenges, according to SoftBank executives. Still, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank this week announced five new U.S. data centers, bringing Stargate’s active projects to nearly 7 gigawatts of the 10 gigawatts originally targeted.

Executives said Microsoft, OpenAI’s longtime sponsor, will not be included in certain Stargate projects, following negotiations to allow OpenAI to partner more broadly.

The company stressed the urgency: demand for ChatGPT and related tools has already forced OpenAI to delay international product launches due to insufficient compute.

Industry experts note that financing remains a major hurdle. Of the roughly $50 billion cost for a new hyperscale data center, about $15 billion covers land and buildings—while the rest goes toward GPUs, which are both costly and in short supply. Following Meta’s example, which secured $29 billion from outside financiers for a Louisiana data center, OpenAI is expected to rely heavily on debt markets to fund its future sites, with Nvidia’s equity stake boosting lender confidence.

Despite bottlenecks in GPU supply chains, Altman maintains that rapid infrastructure buildouts are essential: “We cannot fall behind in the need to put the infrastructure together to make this revolution happen.”