Dell Technologies Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, since 1994. It was formed as a result of the September 2016 merger of Dell Inc. and EMC Corporation. The company ranked 44th on the 2025 Fortune 500 list based on 2024 revenue, and its products include personal computers, servers, monitors, computer software, computer security and network security, as well as information security services.
The company operates through two primary divisions: Dell Inc., which includes the Client Solutions Group, and Dell EMC, which includes the Infrastructure Solutions Group. Dell Technologies focuses on markets such as scale-out architecture, converged infrastructure, private cloud computing, and edge computing, with a growing emphasis on Artificial intelligence solutions.
History
Founding and the EMC acquisition
In 2013, Dell Inc. had returned to private ownership, citing bleak prospects and the need for several years out of the public eye to rebuild its business. Around the same time, EMC Corporation, an enterprise software and storage company, faced pressure from Elliott Management Corporation, a hedge fund holding 2.2% of EMC's stock, to reorganize its unusual "Federation" structure, where divisions operated as independent companies. Elliott argued that this structure undervalued EMC's core data storage business and that competition between EMC II and VMware products confused the market.
On October 12, 2015, Dell announced its intention to acquire EMC in a $67 billion transaction, the largest acquisition in technology sector history at the time. The deal was backed by major Dell shareholders Michael Dell, Temasek Holdings, and Silver Lake Partners. On the announcement day, the Wall Street Journal estimated 2014 revenues: Dell had $27.3 billion from personal computers and $8.9 billion from servers; EMC had $16.5 billion from EMC II, $1 billion from RSA Security, $6 billion from VMware, and $230 million from Pivotal Software.
The combined business aimed to address markets for scale-out architecture, converged infrastructure, and private cloud computing. Commentators had mixed reactions; FBR Capital Markets said it made "ton of sense" for Dell but was a "nightmare scenario" for EMC. Fortune questioned whether the portfolio justified the price, while The Register reported William Blair & Company's view that the merger would "blow up the current IT chess board." VMware stock fell 10% after the announcement, valuing the deal at around $63-64 billion.
The deal closed on September 7, 2016, rebranding EMC as Dell EMC and creating Dell Technologies Inc. with three main divisions: Client Solutions Group (managed by Dell Inc.), Infrastructure Solutions Group (managed by Dell EMC), and VMware. The merger involved $45.9 billion in new debt and $4.4 billion in privately placed common stock. EMC had owned 81% of VMware, which remained a separate company via a tracking stock. Dell paid $24.05 per EMC share and $9.05 per VMware tracking share. The acquisition required Dell to resume quarterly financial reporting, which it had ceased in 2013. Shortly after, Dell sold Dell Services, Dell Software Group, and the Dell EMC Enterprise Content Division for $7.0 billion, using proceeds to repay debt.
Going public
On January 29, 2018, reports indicated Dell Technologies was considering a reverse merger with VMware to go public. In July, Dell announced plans to pay $21.7 billion in cash and stock. Initially, the deal involved pulling $9 billion in cash from VMware to buy out tracking shareholders at 60 cents on the dollar. In November, Carl Icahn, owning 9.3% of Dell, sued over the deal. Pressure from Icahn and other activists led to renegotiation, ultimately offering 80 cents on the dollar, totaling $14 billion. On December 28, 2018, Dell Technologies became a public company, bypassing a traditional IPO through the VMware share buyback.
On April 15, 2021, Dell announced it would spin out its remaining VMware shares to shareholders, with both companies continuing to operate without major changes for at least five years.
Investments and acquisitions
On November 19, 2015, Dell, alongside Arm Holdings, Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft, and Princeton University, founded the OpenFog Consortium to promote fog computing. In October 2017, Dell reported a $1 billion investment in IoT research and development. In 2018, Dell partnered with British racing team McLaren, providing processing power for Formula 1 data.
On February 18, 2020, Dell announced the sale of RSA Security (acquired in the EMC merger) to Symphony Technology Group for $2.075 billion. Dell retained the BSAFE product line, transferring BSAFE products and customer agreements to Dell on July 1, 2020, with the sale completed on September 1, 2020.
In February 2025, Dell sold Secureworks to British cybersecurity vendor Sophos. In December 2025, Dell acquired Israeli data infrastructure startup Dataloop for $120 million in an all-cash deal. In 2026, the Pentagon awarded a five-year, $9.7 billion contract to Dell for software for the U.S. military. The contract timing followed Michael Dell's pledge of $6.25 billion toward investment accounts for children, and came after Trump bought millions of dollars in Dell stock. In May 2026, OpenAI partnered with Dell Technologies to allow enterprise customers to deploy the AI coding assistant Codex in on-premises and hybrid environments, integrating with the Dell AI Data Platform.
Business segments
Dell Technologies operates through two main divisions. Dell Inc. includes the Client Solutions Group, which accounted for 55.3% of fiscal 2024 revenues, producing desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets, and peripherals such as monitors, printers, and projectors. Dell EMC includes the Infrastructure Solutions Group, offering storage, servers, and networking products.
The company also provides services in Artificial intelligence, including AI servers, storage, and edge solutions. Its portfolio addresses Generative AI workloads, supporting large language models and Machine learning applications. Dell's AI offerings are designed for on-premises and hybrid cloud environments, competing with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
Products and services
Dell Technologies offers a broad range of products, including personal computers (e.g., XPS, Inspiron, Latitude), PowerEdge servers, PowerStore and PowerMax storage arrays, and monitors. In the AI space, Dell provides PowerEdge servers optimized for Artificial intelligence workloads, including GPU-accelerated systems for Deep learning and neural network training. The Dell AI Data Platform integrates storage and compute for AI pipelines.
Dell also offers edge computing solutions, enabling data processing closer to the source, and converged infrastructure systems like VxRail. Its software portfolio includes management, security, and data protection tools.
Corporate affairs
Dell Technologies is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. As of 2025, it ranked 44th on the Fortune 500. The company's leadership includes founder Michael Dell, who has been instrumental in its strategy. Dell Technologies employs tens of thousands of people globally and operates in numerous countries.
See also
References
This article is based on information from public sources, including Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).