Alok Ohrie, President and MD, Dell Technology, India. Image: Nishant Ratnakar, Forbes, India
dEll Technologies recently launched its most extensive portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI) personal computers (PCs) in India, which has pushed a new chapter to companies to make AI more accessible to professionals, developers and businesses. Dell Technologies is the third largest player in the Indian PC market with a share of 16.1% and a 21% market share in the commercial sector, according to market intelligence company IDC. The launch includes AI-powered laptops and desktops built with the latest Intel, AMD and Qualcomm platforms, putting India at the heart of Dell’s global AI Ambitions.
This move coincides with Dell’s broader AI strategy, anchored by Dell’s AI factory with NVIDIA, a global initiative that launched in 2024 and expanded in 2025 to deliver end-to-end AI infrastructure, software and services. The AI factory supports more than 2,000 customers, helping them scale AI from desktop to data centers using Dell’s infrastructure and Nvidia’s platforms such as Blackwell Ultra. In India, its clients include the National Stock Exchange, Blue Darts, Airtel Business, E2E Network and Manipal Health Enterprises.
Globally, Dell Technologies reported revenue of $95.6 billion in fiscal 25, an increase of 8% from the previous fiscal year. However, last August, Dell’s sales from selling consumer computers fell 22% from the previous year, while sales of business PCs remain flat, reflecting the slowdown in the post-pandemic industry.
Although Dell tends to a booming AI server market, despite strong demand, the high costs of components, especially NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs), squeeze profit margins. To maintain profitability, Dell has implemented cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and organizational restructuring.
Since the beginning of 2023, its workforce has decreased from 130,000 to about 120,000, and has introduced dedicated AI sales units. In fiscal 25, it abandoned about 10% of its global employees, reducing its workforce from 120,000 to 108,000. No public disclosure of figures on specific job losses in India.
Although the company has seen a decline in workforce worldwide, its Indian operations are still growing in AI R&D, infrastructure solutions and enterprise services. To cope with the slowdown in the PC and laptop market in India, Dell Technologies shifted its focus to high-value services and enterprise solutions. While its PC manufacturing vertical revenue fell by more than 21% in fiscal 24, Dell Technologies India’s software development division grew by 18%, and through global software development, testing and support, India’s software development division made Rs 3,248 crore. In addition, the revenue from Dell’s internal IT support and infrastructure management services was Rs 27.34 crore; IT support services such as marketing analytics and financial sharing services generated Rs 23.84 crore.Also Read: We See Great Potential to Impact Millions of Learners in India: Duolingo’s Severin Hacker
This restructuring highlights how Dell’s has moved from its early hardware core capabilities to services by leveraging the Indian talent pool to drive innovation and enterprise transformation. “India is not only our market, but also the epitome of Dell technology globally,” said Alok Ohrie, MD, president and MD, Dell Technology, India. “From powering digital transactions to enabling generation of AI [GenAI] Use cases, we are helping customers in various industries realize their digital transformation dreams and increasingly have AI ambitions. ”
India’s economic momentum is unlocking huge opportunities across the industry. “Making this growth possible through technology is a very attractive market for companies like ours, which has a wide product portfolio,” Ohrie said. The portfolio covers client solutions, infrastructure such as data centers and clouds, and advanced security products.
With the rapid expansion of the digital economy, the talent pool and enterprises’ demand for scalable AI solutions continues to rise, India is becoming one of Dell’s fastest-growing AI markets. India’s AI market is expected to reach USD 7.84 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.37% from 2031 to 2031. Although Dell did not announce specific numbers in India, its AI-Aptimightighiend Server orders rose by nearly 40% in turn, at $2.9 billion at the time of the termination of FY25. As a result, from powering Genai to building secure, accessible hybrid infrastructure, Dell Technology India is increasingly seen as a strategic driver of the company’s global AI roadmap.
Focus on AI
Over the past decade, technological advances from cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) to 5G and data analytics have been reshaping how businesses operate. AI, especially Genai, is recent. “Genai captures our imagination, especially after Chatgpt launched in November 2023,” Ohrie said. “It demonstrates how technology can increase productivity, accelerate innovation and drive business growth.”
The company is building systems powered by NVIDIA and AMD GPUs to enable customers to effectively deploy AI use cases. These systems support large language models (LLMS), ensuring they are trained correctly on data, deliver accurate results, and comply with regulatory standards.
At the heart of this work is Dell AI Factory, which provides a full-stack solution from client devices to servers, storage and networks, making AI deployment seamless and scalable. “The main driver of Dell’s future growth is the strategic alliance with NVIDIA, which integrates advanced hardware, software and services into a unified AI infrastructure,” said Anshika Jain, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Also read: Genai’s return on investment takes time and patience: Shailender Kumar at Oracle India
“In terms of digital infrastructure, India’s landscape is unbalanced,” Ohrie said. “There are a lot of excellent pockets, but we still lag behind in the national IT infrastructure capabilities.” According to Dell’s analysis, India’s IT spending accounts for 0.17% of GDP, compared with 0.25% in Australia and 0.34% in Japan. “For an economy growing at this rate, our investment in digital infrastructure remains large,” he explained. “This gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity to build a digital backbone that can support India’s ambitions as a global technology power.”
Dell Technology India works with governments on multiple platforms, including the Income Tax Electronic Application Portal and the Electronic Passport Seva system; it recently offers a large-scale data center for the Defense Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), which integrates GPU-accelerated computing and traditional computing infrastructure.
Indian driving research and development
Dell’s Indian division is also the core innovation engine for the company’s global ambitions. With over 23,000 employees, it is one of the company’s largest global workforce and the second largest R&D business in the world, and plays a key role in shaping the company’s product roadmap.
“Dell’s predictive analytics capabilities enable organizations to identify potential failures before they occur, ensuring seamless operations and improving resource management,” said Sudha KV, vice president of Dell Technologies India. “In addition, our data analytics solutions enable businesses to gain actionable insights from a wide range of data sets, which promote better decision-making and accelerate innovation. Our R&D teams have made significant contributions to the global portfolio.”
Dell has invested more than $4 billion in R&D over the past three years, a large portion of which has fueled innovation from India. The Indian R&D team is deeply involved in integrating AI, machine learning and data analytics into Dell’s product ecosystem, from AI-driven adaptive cooling systems in data centers to predictive maintenance and intelligent workload distribution in servers.
“Driving innovation is a key priority for our Indian business,” added Ramesh Jampula, vice president of regional CIO at IT and APJC. “Each major product line at Dell embeds machine intelligence as a core component. Our AI factory with Nvidia is a great example.”
The composition of India: Challenges and Opportunities
Dell Technologies has long been an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partner in India’s electronic manufacturing journey, which established its first plant in the country in 2007, in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, where it produced notebooks, desktops, servers and territory-wide (AIO) (AIO). As one of the early applicants and participants in the Central Government Performance Connected Incentives (PLI) 1.0 program, Dell not only fulfilled its first-year commitment, but also played a key consultative role in shaping PLI 2.0. The approvals obtained under the new plan give Dell the opportunity to deepen its manufacturing footprint in India.
Also Read: India has 5x ROI for Genai’s $1 investment, higher than the global average: Microsoft’s Nicole Dezen
However, there is still a key challenge: the need to build a strong domestic electronic ecosystem. “Today, electronics come from outside; that’s the biggest challenge,” Ohrie said. He stressed that for OEMs like Dell to be sustainable, India must develop local procurement capabilities for components and subcomponents.
Jain of Counterpoint agreed: “The company has the opportunity to expand its reach in the consumer and education sectors and deepen its reach in Level 2 and 3 cities where digital transformation is accelerating. Another key factor is leveraging domestic manufacturing initiatives under India’s PLI program to enable Dell to remain competitive in the evolving market landscape.”
Looking to the future
Dell aligns its Indian strategy with several key global technology trends. One is the rise of proxy AI; Dell’s AI factory will be the core of supporting these AI applications. Meanwhile, sovereign AI is becoming increasingly important as countries and organizations seek to build AI systems that reflect the needs of local languages, cultures and data privacy.
Adoption in India is growing rapidly in industries such as finance, healthcare and cybersecurity. Companies are using AI to detect fraud, improve customer service and manage cloud operations more effectively. Dell’s infrastructure supports both on-site and hybrid cloud setups, ideal for helping Indian businesses expand their AI efforts, especially in a landscape where data security and compliance are top priorities.
In addition, the convergence of AI with quantum computing, smart edges and digital twins is opening up new boundaries from drug discovery to smart manufacturing. “Proxy AI and quantum computing are not only buzzwords; they are the next structural shift in technology,” Jampula said. “India has the talent, ambitions and momentum that leads in this field. At Dell, we are building infrastructure and partnerships to make the future real; from now on, not today, but today.”
