Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) shares are trading lower Thursday afternoon as reports of a contractual dispute and potential timeline slippage at Oracle Corporation’s (NYSE:ORCL) flagship $165 billion data center project spark sympathy selling across key AI server suppliers.

Oracle Force Majeure Notice and Hardware Exposure

The downturn follows reports published Thursday morning revealing that Oracle sent a formal force majeure notice to developer Stack Infrastructure, a portfolio company of Blue Owl Capital.

The notice is designed to suspend or defer Oracle’s payment obligations if construction and energy-permitting delays push the 2.45-gigawatt “Project Jupiter” data center campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, past its scheduled 2028 launch date.

Because Dell serves as a core hardware partner for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, supplying high-performance x86 enterprise servers, custom liquid-cooled PowerEdge AI racks, and enterprise storage arrays, investors fear that operational delays in New Mexico could disrupt immediate server deployment schedules and slow capital outlay pacing.

Although Oracle issued a statement Thursday afternoon asserting that Project Jupiter “remains on our planned schedule” and that the firm is “fully committed to New Mexico,” investors remain cautious.

With benchmark 10-year Treasury yields touching 19-year highs, macro scrutiny over hyperscaler capital expenditure efficiency and data center construction timelines continues to press valuation multiples across server hardware manufacturers.

DELL Stock Edges Lower Thursday

DELL Price Action: Dell Technologies shares were down 0.11% at $549.22 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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