Shares of Dell ( DELL ) and Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ) rose Thursday after xAI founder Elon Musk said the companies are providing hardware for the supercomputer his AI startup is building.
The moves higher underscore Wall Street’s excitement around AI technology.
Investors are clamoring to buy into AI companies at every level of development, from major consumer brands that sell AI-powered apps to manufacturers that provide the chips and servers that power computing infrastructure.
Shares of Dell rose as much as 5% on Thursday morning, while shares of Super Micro rose almost 9%.
Dell’s CEO Michael Dell sparked the jump for his company’s stock price he said in a message on X Wednesday: “We’re building a Dell AI factory with Nvidia to support Grok for xAI.”
Musk, owner of X, announced a few hours later that Dell would assemble half of the racks that go into the supercomputer. In response to comments asking who would build the remaining half, Musk replied “SMC.”
The AI announcement took place over the June bank holiday, when markets were closed. But the next session, investors piled into the stocks.
Both Dell and Super Micro are working to capitalize on the immense growth surrounding AI technologies. Earlier this week, Super Micro announced plans to expand facilities in Silicon Valley to strengthen its AI business. And Dell reported last month that revenue from its AI servers more than doubled from the previous quarter.
Musk is also trying to position his startup as a leader in AI, even as tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), owner of Google, have made big strides. His AI venture raised $6 billion in Series B funding, its backers announced last month, reaching a $24 billion valuation as investors bet on the dominant tech platforms and upstart challengers in a rapidly escalating AI race.
Other big names are also getting in on the AI game. Apple (AAPL), whose leaders have been reluctant to share their AI strategy prematurely, unveiled the company’s strategic vision earlier this month. They debuted the Apple Intelligence platform at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, marking a big change for the company, which will soon introduce a host of new AI-infused features to its operating systems and products.
Even as the tech giants have seen substantial share price gains thanks to the momentum of AI development, Nvidia (NVDA), the chipmaker that has become an icon of the AI rally, has outpaced them all.
On Thursday, Nvidia extended its lead as the world’s most valuable company, after surpassing Microsoft earlier this week. Shares rose more than 2%, thanks to the announcements from Dell and Super Micro. The market capitalization was $3.42 trillion.
Hamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on Twitter @hshaban.
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