Dell hits record high amid rally in AI stocks

Shares of Dell Technologies hit a record high on Friday amid a rally in companies working on generative artificial intelligence applications, buoyed by strong optimism for the new technology.

AI-heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab posted strong quarterly results and forecast current-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, reinforcing that customers' spending on genAI will continue to hold strong. The positive momentum extended to Dell, which has recently launched AI-oriented personal computers and more powerful servers in collaboration with Nvidia.

"This as an important and timely new opportunity for Dell," said Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research.

Dell shares rose 6% to $162.82 after paring some gains in the afternoon and were on track to add $6.6 billion to its market value. The stock, which has more than doubled year to date, ended in the green in the previous three sessions.

On Friday, shares of major chip firms were up between Nvidia's nearly 1% rise and Qualcomm's (QCOM.O), opens new tab 4% gain. U.S.-listed shares of Arm Holdings were up 2.3%.

Share of software companies C3.ai (AI.N), opens new tab and Palantir Technologies (PLTR.N), opens new tab were up 0.6% and 1.6% respectively.

"Chip companies are expected to benefit heavily from AI chip-related orders, primarily from Cloud providers, who have indicated significant increase in their capex for 2024," said Akshara Bassi, an analyst at Couterpoint Research.