Dell Technologies (DELL) Shares Slide After Intel Warns on the PC Market
Dell plunged 12.6% on Friday after Intel warned that a shortage of memory chips is choking PC demand, dragging HP and other hardware makers down with it.
What happened
Shares of computer and server maker Dell Technologies (DELL) plunged 12.6% on Friday, to $415.48 as of 2:51 p.m. ET, after Intel (INTC) warned that the PC market is getting worse. HP (HPQ), which also depends on PC sales, was down 11.0%.
On its results call on Thursday evening, Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan said shortages of memory chips are choking demand for PCs and pushing PC makers to cut their inventories, Benzinga and 24/7 Wall St reported. Intel forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, well short of estimates, as we reported in our Intel recap.
Why it matters
Memory is the squeeze. AI data centers are buying up memory chips, which raises prices for everyone else, and PC makers like Dell and HP have to either absorb that cost or pass it on in pricier computers that fewer people buy, Benzinga and Tom’s Hardware reported.
Server makers fell as well, though by less: Hewlett Packard Enterprise was down 8.8% and Super Micro Computer 8.4% as of 2:51 p.m. ET. 24/7 Wall St and TradingKey both said the PC warning hits Dell’s PC unit and HP harder than server-focused peers, while the Associated Press tied the wider hardware selloff to worries about AI spending.
What the market is telling us
Dell’s shares moved 5% or more on 47 of the last 252 sessions. The last move at least this big in the same direction was on 22 October 2026, when the stock fell 6.8%. Before Friday the stock was up 277.8% this year, and at Thursday’s close of $475.51 it sat 19.2% below its 52-week closing high of $588.40 from 17 September 2026. $1,000 invested in Dell five years ago would have been worth $8,508.
A stock that nearly quadrupled this year can fall hard on any bad hardware news, and we read Friday’s drop as a reaction to Intel’s warning rather than to anything Dell said. Its next results will show whether higher memory costs are hurting only its PC unit or its margins more broadly.
The rest of the chip industry fell on Intel’s forecast too; our story on AMD, Arm and Qualcomm has more.
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Mostly Markets is for information and education only and isn't investment advice. Dev Malhotra is a pen name. Prices are from Nasdaq and CNBC as of the time stated.
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