Finnish firm sues Dell over $70 million server price hike

XTX Finland, the Finnish subsidiary of British firm XTX Markets, has filed a lawsuit against Dell after the tech giant raised the price of servers by $70 million beyond the agreed amount, Helsingin Sanomat first reported.

The price increase, implemented in June, was justified by Dell as a result of rising component costs and high demand. XTX Finland has taken the dispute to Ireland’s Commercial Court, where Dell is registered, with a hearing scheduled for December.

Antti Poikola, director of the Finnish Data Center Industry, called the hike exceptional, noting that while component prices have fluctuated before, the scale of this increase is unprecedented. He added that servers are now often sold at daily market rates, making it difficult to predict final costs or delivery times in advance.

Poikola expects component shortages to ease as new chip factories come online, though he estimates this may take several years. Rising copper prices are also impacting electrification costs, he said.

XTX Markets, which is building a €1 billion data center complex in Kajaani, declined to comment. The first of its five planned facilities is set to open this year.