“There are primarily two points to consider here,” said Pareekh Jain, CEO of EIIRTrend & Pareekh Consulting. “First, Dell’s financial results reflect a slowdown in PC demand, leading them to adjust their cost structure. During the pandemic time, many companies inflated their cost structures in anticipation of growth and demand that didn’t materialize. The second point is that while we’re seeing significant layoffs across Silicon Valley and IT companies worldwide, most still report good results, unlike Dell.”
In other words, this may not just be a reaction to the current results or economic concerns but a preparation for the impact of generative AI in the future.
“Companies like Dell, Google, Amazon, Cisco, and SAP are on the forefront of embracing generative AI, and they’re trimming their workforce with the medium to long-term in mind,” Jain added. “The consensus seems to be that the workforce of tomorrow will be smaller than today’s, due to the efficiencies introduced by generative AI. Thus, these companies are seizing the opportunity to streamline their workforce now.”
Optimistic of AI demand
In the filing, Dell highlighted that despite a general sense of caution among enterprise and large corporate clients, its Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) has seen a boost in demand driven by the growing interest in AI-optimized solutions.
This trend reflects the broader influence of advancements in artificial intelligence on customer spending patterns as organizations increasingly seek to integrate AI into their operations.
Trendforce forecasts that starting in 2024, the demand for AI development and software services will significantly increase, alongside the growth of edge computing AI servers using mid-range GPUs and FPGAs. This sector is expected to see an annual growth rate exceeding 20 percent from 2023 to 2026.
