Dell vs. Supermicro: how they make money

• Commercial PC buyers · 38.8% of revenueOrganizations buying notebooks, desktops, workstations, accessories and support.
• AI server buyers · 21.7% of revenueSo far mostly "a small number of larger customers and cloud service providers", Dell's FY2026 10-K says.
• Traditional server and networking buyers · 17.2% of revenueDell said on its Sep 1, 2026 call that this is mainly its long-standing enterprise customers.
• Storage buyers · 14.6% of revenueOrganizations buying systems to hold and protect their data.
• Consumers · 6.1% of revenueHome users buying PCs and accessories.
• Corporate and other · 1.5% of revenueMainly past resale of VMware products and the Secureworks business, both now gone.

• Largest customer (not named) · 28.1% of revenueOne customer bought 28.1% of FY2026 net sales and 44.0% of Q1 FY2027 net sales. In FY2025 four customers each bought between 11.1% and 20.9%.
• All other customers · 71.9% of revenueOver 1,000 customers in over 100 countries, in enterprise data centers, cloud computing, AI, 5G and edge computing, plus thousands of end users reached through resellers. The 71.9% is a Cityfort calculation from FY2026 10-K: 100% less the largest customer's share.

FY2026

Not on the Supermicro page.

Debt

$34.5B

Cash and investments

$11.6B

On Jul 31, 2026.

At Jul 31, 2026 Dell's debt exceeded its cash by $22.9 billion, about twice the $11.2 billion of FY2026 cash from operations.

Debt

$8.6B

Cash and investments

$6.9B

On Sep 30, 2026.

At Sep 30, 2026 Supermicro's bank debt and convertible notes exceeded its cash by $1.7 billion, while it held $15.1 billion of inventories.

• 3 classes of shares (votes per share: Class A common stock 10, Class B common stock 10, Class C common stock 1).
• Officers and directors as a group: 41.5% of shares, 69.8% of votes (as of Apr 27, 2026).
• Michael S. Dell (founder, Chairman and CEO): 40.9% of its class, 69.7% of votes (as of Apr 27, 2026).
• Silver Lake holders: 6.7% (as of Sep 9, 2026).
• SLD Trust (Susan Lieberman Dell Separate Property Trust): 4.8% (as of Apr 27, 2026).
• 2 more holders on the Dell page.

• 2 classes of shares (votes per share: Common stock 1, 7.00% Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock 0).
• Officers and directors as a group: 12.5% of shares (as of Jul 31, 2026).
• Charles Liang (co-founder, CEO and Chairman) and Sara Liu (co-founder, director): 12.2% (as of Jul 31, 2026).
• Jane Street Group: 7.4% (as of Jun 30, 2026).
• BlackRock: 6.3% (as of Oct 25, 2024).
• 3 more holders on the Supermicro page.

• AI revenue can arrive unevenly (demand)Dell's Q2 FY2027 10-Q describes "inherent non-linearity" in the timing of AI demand and shipments. AI server revenue was $8.2 billion in Q2 FY2026, $5.6 billion in Q3 FY2026 and $16.4 billion in Q2 FY2027. The Q3 FY2026 figure is a Cityfort calculation from FY2026 10-K and the Q4 FY2026, Q1 FY2027 and Q2 FY2027 earnings releases.
• Memory costs and supply (commodity costs)The Q2 FY2027 10-Q says limited capacity at memory makers pushed memory component costs up substantially, and Dell expects component inflation through the rest of FY2027. All components come from outside vendors, some from a single source. Dell says more AI servers in the mix also pressure the margin rate.
• Competition on price (competition)Dell's FY2026 10-K says it faces product and price competition from branded and generic rivals. Large cloud providers often buy infrastructure directly from equipment designers, and customers could move workloads to them.

• Thin, swinging margins (pricing)Gross margin was 6.3% in Q2 FY2026, 17.5% in Q4 FY2026 and 12.7% in Q1 FY2027. The FY2026 10-K points to higher tariff costs and lower supplier rebates.
• Investigations and lawsuits (legal cases)The company faces SEC and Justice Department subpoenas, Commerce Department export inquiries, securities class actions and derivative suits, some linked to the March 2026 indictment of three individuals over an alleged conspiracy to commit export-control violations. Supermicro says these could lead to penalties and gives no loss estimate.
• Reliance on a few chip suppliers (execution)Supermicro builds around processors and GPUs from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel, and its 10-K says it relies on a limited number of suppliers for some components. Memory, storage, GPU and CPU supply was constrained in FY2026, affecting delivery timing and prices.