Big tech isn't slowing down its massive artificial intelligence spending anytime soon, and that's a boon for equipment makers like Dell Technologies and HPE.

Oracle reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter financial results after the stock market closed on Thursday. On top of those numbers, the cloud provider also said it expects capital expenditures to be between $90 billion and $95 billion this fiscal year, a major jump from $56 billion last year.

Also on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that cloud giant Microsoft plans to triple its computing capacity.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Barron's that "recent reports have speculated on Microsoft's future datacenter buildout. The financial figures in these reports do not accurately reflect Microsoft's results and projections."

Still, investors were buying up shares of hardware makers like Dell and HPE amid excitement about continued spending from big tech players, as their equipment is needed to build data centers.

Dell stock was climbing 10% on Friday to $558.72 and was on pace for a new all-time closing high, according to Dow Jones Market Data. HPE stock was surging 9.3% to $60.37 and was also on pace for a new closing high. Dell was the top performer in the S&P 500 on Friday, and HPE was the second-best performer in the index. The S&P 500 was up 1.1%.

HPE also announced on Sept. 2 that it was extending its collaboration with Oracle for its networking solutions. According to a press release, the company will deploy HPE Juniper Networking across Oracle's AI data centers.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel told Barron's on Friday that Oracle looks to have "no intentions of slowing down," which, following this expanded partnership agreement, is a positive signal for HPE.

Other AI hardware names were higher on Friday, too. Arista Networks was up 5.1% and Cisco Systems was rising 3.7%.

One question that continues to linger is how long these companies will continue to spend so aggressively. A slowdown could put pressure on stocks that are benefiting from that spending, as they have had major runs over the past year. Dell is up 343%, while HPE has gained 153% in 2026.

"I think anybody is right to probably have a concern that at some point in time the cycle will stop and then you're paying this year's multiple for something that could be on a decelerating or declining trajectory," Nispel said. He rates both Dell and HPE Sector Weight, with no price targets.

But with spending showing little sign of slowing down anytime soon, many on Wall Street still think these stocks have more room to run. RBC Capital Markets analyst David Paige initiated coverage of Dell with an Outperform rating and a $640 price target on Thursday night, which implies a 26% rise from Dell's last closing price of $506.62.

"Enterprise demand for AI investments, compute modernization, storage expansion and PC refresh should sustain results above long-term targets," Paige wrote.