EMC made record sales of $3.3bn (£1.6bn) in the third quarter, up from the $2.2bn (£1bn) reported last year.

Net income also hit an all-time high as profits soared 77 per cent to $494m (£241m) with earnings of 23c (11p) per share, up 77 per cent from 13c (6p) in 2006.

Net gains of $115m (£56m) were fuelled by the sale of 6 million shares in virtualisation firm VMWare, bought by supplier Cisco Systems in October.

EMC also says that it has bought back 73 million company shares over the past year, returning $1.1bn (£537m) to shareholders.

"Solid global execution of our strategy resulted in record third-quarter financial results," said chief executive Joe Tucci.

"We see broad opportunities in the global marketplace, and we will continue to drive profitable growth by furthering technology integration across our portfolio, investing in research and development, and expanding into the fastest-growing global markets."