Dell has awarded a component supply contract to Philips, worth up to $5bn over five years (the deal assumes annual sales growth of 25 per cent).

Philips will furnish Dell with CRT and LCD monitors, and storage devices etc, and it is rewarding Dell for its largesse by making it preferred supplier worldwide for PCs and servers. The value of this useful kickback, and which incumbent suppliers will be kicked out, is not stated.

Philips is Dell's third mega-component supply deal, lining up alongside IBM and Samsung. ®