Large enterprises running sensitive data on private infrastructure can now pursue deployment of OpenAI's Codex agent without moving that data to public cloud environments. OpenAI and Dell Technologies jointly announced the collaboration on May 18, 2026, at Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, with the full details confirmed in a Dell press release distributed via Business Wire the same day.
What the Partnership Covers
Through this collaboration, Codex will connect with the Dell AI Data Platform, which many businesses already use to store, organize, and govern enterprise data on-premises. The partnership is designed to bring Codex closer to the internal context that makes agents useful, including codebases, documentation, business systems, operational knowledge, and team workflows.
Dell and OpenAI will also explore how Codex can connect with the Dell AI Factory, which businesses use to power their AI workloads. That exploration includes ways for Codex, ChatGPT Enterprise, and other API-based solutions to interface with AI Factory to prepare data, manage systems of record, run tests, and deploy AI applications integrated with a business's hybrid or on-premises Dell infrastructure.
The announcement was part of a broader set of advancements to the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, which also includes new solutions with Google, Hugging Face, Palantir, Reflection, ServiceNow, SpaceXAI, and others, alongside a new Dell AI Ecosystem Program giving enterprises more ways to deploy AI on infrastructure they control.
Dell's Infrastructure Footprint
Dell Technologies announced the advancements at Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, noting that more than 5,000 customers are already deploying the Dell AI Factory, with the portfolio additions designed to help organizations adopt AI with confidence and achieve results on infrastructure they control, with data they trust.
Dell added 1,000 new customers for its AI Factory with NVIDIA last quarter, bringing the total to 5,000. Eli Lilly, Honeywell, and Samsung are among the enterprises choosing Dell for AI infrastructure deployments, running workloads on hardware they own and control rather than in the cloud.
Codex's Enterprise Reach
Codex is described by OpenAI as one of its fastest-growing enterprise products. More than 4 million developers now use Codex every week, and companies are already using it across the software development lifecycle, from code review and test coverage to incident response and reasoning across large repositories.
Codex is also expanding beyond coding. Teams are beginning to use Codex-powered agents to gather context across tools, prepare reports, route product feedback, qualify leads, write follow-ups, and coordinate work across business systems.
The announcement highlights a growing trend in enterprise AI adoption where organizations want greater control over data residency, security, compliance, and infrastructure. OpenAI said the partnership is designed for enterprises operating in regulated industries or environments where sensitive code and operational data cannot easily leave internal systems.
Executive Statement
Ihab Tarazi, SVP and CTO of Dell Technologies' Infrastructure Solutions Group, addressed the rationale for the partnership directly.
“Collaborating with OpenAI brings together Dell’s industry-leading enterprise grade infrastructure with cutting edge agentic AI harnesses and models from OpenAI. The Dell AI Factory with OpenAI Codex will allow enterprises to deploy AI where enterprise data already lives, within their premises, giving customers a practical, secure path to deploying AI agents at scale.”
Implications for Enterprise Technology Teams
For IT and technology leaders, the partnership signals a shift in how AI coding agents can be embedded in production environments. Enterprises that have resisted cloud-based AI agent deployments due to data governance, regulatory compliance, or latency requirements now have a vendor-supported path to running Codex against internal data without exporting it. Teams evaluating Codex for software development or knowledge-work automation should assess whether their existing Dell AI Data Platform infrastructure is positioned to support the integration as technical specifications are finalized.
As stated in the Dell Technologies May 18 press release, OpenAI and Dell Technologies are collaborating to deploy Codex in the environments where enterprises' most important data, systems, and workflows already live, with Codex set to connect with the Dell AI Data Platform, which many businesses already use to store, organize, and govern enterprise data on-premises, bringing Codex closer to internal context including codebases, documentation, business systems, operational knowledge, and team workflows.
