ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) -- Computer maker Dell Inc. said Thursday that it plans to invest $1 billion in data centers in the current fiscal year, which ends in January 2012, to push "cloud computing," -- that is delivering software, data storage and other services to customers over the Internet.
Dell, like its competitors, is betting on cloud computing, a massive shift just under way in data-center technology, as the next area of growth and profits. The company said it will build several new data centers around the world in the next 24 months to provide access to cloud-computing technologies.
Shares of Dell rose 14 cents to $14.90 in afternoon trading.