Michael Dell is pressing ahead with partner Silver Lake on a $50 billion-plus acquisition of data storage giant EMC, people familiar with the matter said, a bold but risky deal that would require massive debt financing at a time when credit markets have become less hospitable to mergers.

Negotiations have advanced and could produce an agreement by next week, the people said. A merger of that size would be the largest ever in the technology industry, and Dell and Silver Lake are in talks to secure a debt package that could top $40 billion to fund it, one of the people said.