Dell’s quarterly results show a huge growth in server sales, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) projects, but a relative lag in storage. Key reasons behind that might be that Dell’s current storage lags a little behind the curve in AI performance, while its massive parallel network-attached storage (NAS) that aims to plug that gap, Project Lightning, is in gestation.
Dell’s PC division usually massively outsells its datacentre products, but that’s not the case in its latest (second) quarterly results, which show 69% growth in sales of servers and networking equipment year-on-year. That equated to a revenue of $16.8bn for the infrastructure division that put the client services – i.e. personal equipment – into the shade with $12.5bn of sales.
Dell has benefited here from being the first to the AI market, with servers, the latest Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPUs), and switches compatible with high throughput Nvidia Spectrum-X networking and Ultra-Ethernet cards.
“In the last six months we have delivered $10bn worth of servers for AI,” said Jeff Clarke, vice-chairman and chief operating officer for Dell Technologies. “That’s more than was attained in the whole previous year. Demand is strong and sales of the new AI hardware has totalled $20bn for the year.”
Overall, Dell’s Q2 results showed record revenue of $29.8bn, which was up 19% on the previous year. Of the $16.8bn of revenue contributed by the infrastructure group – growth of 44% in a year – servers and network equipment contributed $12.9bn.
Meanwhile, however, storage arrays – flash and disk – saw revenues lower by 3% over the year at $3.9bn in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the client services group’s revenue growth was a mere 1% year-on-year, with enterprise PCs reporting $10.8bn revenue (+2%) and consumer products $1.7bn (-7%).
Storage the poor relation in infrastructure sales
A salient feature of these results is that the demands of AI seem to favour compute hardware more than storage.
That might be confirmed by the latest results from NetApp, which is number one in flash storage arrays, according to IDC. Here, the array maker posted quarterly results of $1.56bn in August, which equated to annual growth of 1%.
Meanwhile, Pure Storage announced revenue of $861m, and that was an increase of 13% on sales in a year – but there’s a catch. That set of figures included its delivery – unprecedented – of SSD DirectFlash Modules (DFM) to hyperscaler Meta.
Pure’s DFMs are a proprietary format in which the vendor has packed a much higher density of storage onto SSD cards. That’s because it offloads a lot of on-board cache to the array and handles data there instead.
HPE’s third quarter results showed revenue growth for servers at $4.9bn, up 16% year-on-year, but doesn’t appear to break out storage revenue.
Towards evolution in storage
Why have we seen a boost in revenue for servers for AI, but not really with storage?
There’s no doubt from a technical point of view that storage is an essential support for compute for AI; it’s possible that enterprises have staged their budget spend and focused first on processing power.
At the same time, it’s true that storage products have lagged behind in terms of performance compared with compute. For example, servers that feed GPUs are able to move data at a rate of 400Gbps or even 800Gbps. Current storage products offer around 100Gbps.
Storage suppliers have, however, centred efforts to develop AI storage around parallel file system storage for AI.
Vast Data led the way here, with massive parallel access to storage, while Hammerspace and Weka also followed.
Dell responded with Project Lightning – which comprises Powerscale, the rebranded Isilon scale-out NAS – but that doesn’t seem to have a release date yet. Meanwhile, NetApp has Ontap Data Platform for AI, while Pure has FlashBlade//Exa.
OpenAI’s chief communications officer, Hannah Wong, announced internally on Monday that she is leaving the company in January, WIRED has learned. In a statement to WIRED, OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood confirmed the departure.
“Hannah has played a defining role in shaping how people understand OpenAI and the work we do,” said CEO Sam Altman and CEO of applications Fidji Simo in a joint statement. “She has an extraordinary ability to bring clarity to complex ideas, and to do it with care and grace. We’re deeply grateful for her leadership and partnership these last five years, and we wish her the very best.”
Wong joined OpenAI in 2021 when it was a relatively small research lab, and has led the company’s communications team as ChatGPT has grown into one of the world’s largest consumer products. She was considered instrumental in leading the company through the PR crisis that was Altman’s brief ouster and re-hiring in 2023—a period the company internally calls “the blip.” Wong assumed the chief communications officer role in August 2024, and has expanded the company’s communications team since then.
In a drafted LinkedIn post shared with WIRED, Wong said that OpenAI’s VP of communications, Lindsey Held, will lead the company’s communications team until a new chief communications officer is hired. OpenAI’s VP of marketing, Kate Rouch, is leading the search for Wong’s replacement.
“These years have been intense and deeply formative,” said Wong in the LinkedIn post. “I’m grateful I got to help tell OpenAI’s story, introduce ChatGPT and other incredible products to the world, and share more about the people forging the path to AGI during an extraordinary moment of growth and momentum.”
Wong says she looks forward to spending more time with her husband and kids as she figures out the next chapter in her career.
The UK government has launched a Women in Tech Taskforce, designed to dismantle the current barriers faced by women working in, or wanting to work in, the tech sector.
Made up of several experts from the technology ecosystem, the taskforce’s main aim is to boost economic growth, after the recent government-backed Lovelace report found the UK is suffering an annual loss of between £2bn and £3.5bn as a result of women leaving the tech sector or changing roles.
The UK’s technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said: “Technology should work for everyone. That is why I have established the Women in Tech Taskforce, to break down the barriers that still hold too many people back, and to partner with industry on practical solutions that make a real difference.
“This matters deeply to me. When women are inspired to take on a role in tech and have a seat at the table, the sector can make more representative decisions, build products that serve everyone, and unlock the innovation and growth our economy needs.”
The percentage of women in the technology workforce remains at around 22%, having grown marginally over the past five years, and the recent Lovelace report found between 40,000 and 60,000 women are leaving digital roles each year, whether for other tech roles or to leave tech for good.
When women are inspired to take on a role in tech and have a seat at the table, the sector can make more representative decisions, build products that serve everyone, and unlock the innovation and growth our economy needs Liz Kendall, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
There are many reasons for this, one being the lack of opportunity to advance their career in their current roles. Research by other organisations has found a lack of flexibility at work and bias also play a part in either preventing women from joining the sector or contributing to their decision to leave IT.
The issues can be traced all the way to school-aged girls, who often choose not to continue with technology subjects. One reason for this is that misconceptions about the skills needed for a tech role make young women feel the sector isn’t for them.
Headed up by the founder and CEO of Stemettes, Anne-Marie Imafidon, the founding members of the taskforce include:
Liz Kendall, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology.
Anne-Marie Imafidon, founder of Stemettes; Women in Tech Envoy.
Allison Kirkby, CEO, BT Group.
Anna Brailsford, CEO and co-founder, Code First Girls.
Francesca Carlesi, CEO, Revolut.
Louise Archer, academic, Institute of Education.
Karen Blake, tech inclusion strategist; former co-CEO of the Tech Talent Charter.
Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering.
Kate Bell, assistant general secretary, TUC.
Amelia Miller, co-founder and CEO, ivee.
Ismini Vasileiou, director, East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster.
Emma O’Dwyer, director of public policy, Uber.
These experts will help the government “identify and dismantle” the barriers preventing women from joining or staying in the tech sector across the areas of education, training and career progression.
They will also advise on how to support and grow diversity in the UK’s tech ecosystem and replicate the success of organisations that already have an even gender split in their tech remits.
Collaboration has been heavily pinpointed in the past as being the only way sustained change can be developed when it comes to diversity in tech, with the taskforce working on advising the government on policy, while also consulting on how government, the tech industry and education providers can work together to make it easier to increase and maintain the number of women in tech.
The taskforce will work in tandem with other government initiatives aimed at encouraging women and young people into technology careers, such as the recently launched TechFirst skills programme and the Regional Tech Booster programme, among others.
The first meeting of the Women in Tech Taskforce took place on 15 December 2025.
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I’ve been growing my Cozy Earth pajama collection for years, usually getting a new set during Black Friday. Obviously, that shopping event has come and gone, but this sale gives you one more chance. And, believe it or not, it’s even better than what Cozy Earth ran sale-wise for its pajamas during Cyber Week.
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