Dell says AI cost pressures push hybrid infrastructure choices into focus
Dell says rising inference costs are pushing enterprises to weigh hybrid AI, model choice and data control.
More than 6,500 enterprises have adopted the Dell AI Factory with Nvidia updates, according to Dell. Dufresne pointed to a sharp shift in token economics: over roughly the last three months, the mix moved from 80% of tokens generated by frontier models to 80% of tokens in the world generated by open models. “Why? Because of cost. And everybody talks about tokenomics,” he said.
Inference is now growing faster than training, though both are expanding quickly, according to Dufresne. That shift is changing where AI work happens. Dell is seeing inference run wherever data is created — in the cloud, in the data center and out to PCs — with more of it moving to the far edge.
“We’re seeing the business owners saying, ‘Oh my gosh, these costs are getting really high for inferencing. How do we reduce those costs without curbing innovation?’” Dufresne said. “We’re finding it’s happening across that continuum but more and more right out at the far edge.”
The economics also raise a strategic question about control. Companies have to decide whether they want to outsource their data and differentiation, Dufresne explained, and they are now pricing AI based on where workloads run, which models they use and where their data sits. Dell has framed its latest AI Factory with Nvidia updates around helping customers get results on infrastructure they control.
“We’re seeing every single CFO in the world that has implemented these structures saying, ‘Gosh, my token costs are exploding,’” he said. “‘How do we drive costs out?’”
Supply is the other side of the ledger. Memory prices are pushing technology costs up rather than down, and about 20% more memory will reach the market next year against roughly 200% more demand, Dufresne estimated. Dell is responding with collaborative planning, steering customers toward more readily available components and sharing advance visibility into upcoming cost increases. Many customers find their cost of capital is lower than component inflation, so they are buying earlier.
“It’s not only just being able to provide the technology,” Dufresne said. “But also to be able to share with customers what’s going to happen in the future so they can make better decisions today on the use of their capital.”
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