Dell Technologies Reports Strong Q2 Earnings Driven By AI Demand

According to Cointelegraph, Dell Technologies did not include Bitcoin on its balance sheet in the second quarter of the year, despite recent social media posts from CEO Michael Dell that hinted at a potential interest in cryptocurrency. The company's Aug. 29 filing highlighted strong earnings driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI), but there was no mention of Bitcoin in the earnings call or results filing. Speculation had been rampant that Dell Technologies might be considering a Bitcoin purchase after Michael Dell made several crypto-themed posts on social media. On June 21, Dell posted on X, “Scarcity creates value,” a phrase often associated with Bitcoin due to its limited supply of 21 million coins. He further fueled speculation by reposting a reply from MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, stating, “Bitcoin is Digital Scarcity,” and promoting an account featuring a cookie monster image eating Bitcoin. Additionally, Dell conducted a poll on June 29 asking users to choose between AI, Bitcoin, Love and relationships, or none of the above, with Bitcoin winning 43% of the vote. Dell's last Bitcoin-related post came on July 16, when he commented, “fascinating Bitcoin,” on an interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who had expressed a newfound interest in Bitcoin after studying it. Despite these posts, Dell Technologies' financial filings showed no evidence of the company purchasing Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies. Typically, companies disclose their digital asset holdings in financial filings, as seen with Tesla, MicroStrategy, Metaplanet, and Semler Scientific. Dell Technologies' Q2 earnings exceeded expectations, largely due to the increasing demand for AI solutions. The company reported total revenue of $25 billion, a 9% increase compared to the previous year, with record servers and networking revenue of $7.7 billion, an 80% increase from last year. Analysts had predicted $24 billion in revenue. Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Dell, attributed the higher earnings to the company's AI momentum. “Our AI momentum accelerated in Q2, and we’ve seen an increase in the number of enterprise customers buying AI solutions each quarter,” Clarke said. He also noted that AI-optimized server demand reached $3.2 billion, up 23% sequentially, and $5.8 billion year to date.