This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) is making a quiet but strategic move in AI, agreeing to buy data infrastructure startup Dataloop for about $120 million in an all cash deal, according to a report from Calcalist.
Dataloop is not flashy, but it plays a key role in how AI actually gets built. The Israel based company, founded in 2017 by Eran Shlomo, Avi Yashar, and Nir Buschi, focuses on tools that help companies organize, label, and manage massive data sets used to train and deploy AI models. The startup has raised roughly $50 million to date.
Dell has not commented publicly, but the logic is fairly clear. As enterprises move from experimenting with AI to running it at scale, data pipelines are becoming just as important as servers and storage. Owning that layer helps Dell offer a more complete AI infrastructure stack.
For investors, the deal is small in size but meaningful in direction. Dell appears focused on practical, tuck in AI acquisitions that strengthen its long term enterprise positioning rather than headline grabbing bets.