Tesla AI efforts could provide boost to Dell’s business: Evercore ISI

Investment research firm Evercore ISI raised its price target for Dell stock from $140 per share to $165 per share. Analysts at the firm noted that Dell might have secured a significant portion of Tesla’s upcoming AI server buildout, a deal that could potentially be worth billions.

The Evercore analysts noted that the potential Tesla deal could add to Dell’s AI backlog, which is currently estimated at around $2.9 billion. With this in mind, Tesla’s ambitious plans to significantly increase its computing capacity, which is pushed by the company’s focus on the development and improvement of Full Self-Driving (FSD), could translate to $2.5 to $3 billion in revenue for Dell.

“Tesla has indicated that they expect to increase their compute capacity (H100 or equivalents) from ~35,000 H100 or equivalents installed today to ~85,000 by year-end. Our analysis suggests this presents a ~$2.5-3.0B revenue/order opportunity for Dell potentially in CY24,” Evercore ISI analysts noted.

While competitor Super Micro Computer (SMCI) may have secured a piece of the Tesla pie as well, Evercore ISI noted that Dell will likely see more orders from the electric vehicle maker. Dell’s win could extend beyond just servers as well, as the company is also expected to supply a significant amount of storage hardware.

“Crucially, Dell has also won a sizable amount of storage attach in addition to AI servers that could ship in conjunction with AI server shipments (vs. storage typically lagging x86 server deployments by 2-3 quarters),” the Evercore analysts noted. 

The firm also noted that Dell has positioned itself to aggressively take share of the tier 2 cloud service provider, sovereign, and enterprise markets for AI infrastructure, as noted in an Investing.com report. “Dell continues to pick up traction for AI servers, and more importantly, AI attach. This should help support a structural lift to Dell’s underlying top-line growth rate from 3-4% to MSD over the next few years.” 

Dell, for its part, has not issued a comment about its potential business with Tesla. As noted in a report from The Street, a Dell spokesperson simply stated that “we’re in quiet period and will share latest financials, including on our server business, during our Q1 earnings call on May 30.”

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Tesla AI efforts could provide boost to Dell’s business: Evercore ISI