Michael Dell’s fortune crested the US$100 billion mark for the first time on Friday (Mar 1) after Dell Technologies’ fourth-quarter earnings showed a tangible boost from demand for equipment assisting artificial intelligence (AI).

Dell’s shares jumped 32 per cent to a record high, boosting its founder’s net worth by US$13.7 billion to US$104.3 billion. Dell now ranks as the 12th-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, just ahead of India’s Gautam Adani.

Roughly half of Dell’s fortune comes from the Texas-based computer-maker, which he started 40 years ago when still a student at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Though best known for its PC business, Dell’s range of high-powered servers such as the H100 and MI300X have drawn attention for their capabilities running AI workloads. Dell, 59, is one of a handful of billionaires whose wealth has skyrocketed this year due to the blistering rally in AI-related stocks. Nvidia founder Jensen Huang’s net worth has jumped by US$28.4 billion while Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune is up by US$52.1 billion. 

Dell’s wealth has also received a boost from chipmaker Broadcom. He received a stake in the business after it bought VMWare in 2021. Those shares are now worth more than US$31 billion. BLOOMBERG