Where does HP stand at the intersection of AI and hardware?

Hewlett-Packard is fighting for its place in the broader AI race.

HP is in a tricky position, according to Faisal Masud, president of HP’s Worldwide Digital and Lifecycle Service. There’s the urge to take advantage of the AI market as quickly as possible, but a product that doesn’t hit a “high bar” might erode customer trust.

“If we introduce something, we have to be 100% sure it’s not going to cause any kind of unnecessary pain on the end user or the enterprise,” Masud said. “Would you want to introduce something into that environment that might not be fully 100% tested?”

HP is aiming to make its hardware and software both vendor- and OS-agnostic. “Our partners have their own custom [software], we don’t care, we will provide you what you need, but ultimately what we want to make this as seamless as possible for those who are using HP to be able to use our platform and use all the agents and capabilities that are available out of the box, but at the same time, not be preventing them from using us if they have another fleet ongoing,” Masud said.

Life of service. Linn Huang, International Data Corporation (IDC) research VP of devices and displays, told IT Brew that HP could contribute to the broader trend of hardware integrating AI more tightly.

“The general consensus is that we’re going to have AI everywhere, it’s going to be in the data center, it’s going to be cloud, it’s going to be on the edge infrastructure…and on your PC,” Huang said. “Obviously, HP, the No. 2 PC maker in the world, consistently has a very, very hard part to play in that.”

However, the focus on AI integration could back HP into a corner, Huang said, pointing to other hardware competitors like Lenovo and Dell. These providers face margin pressures that are increasing every quarter as they try to convince the industry they are service providers.

“HP does have to do this convincing that they’re not just a hardware player, that they’re much more than that,” Huang said. “These guys are constantly trying to push their software and services business to offset pressures on the hardware business.”

Where it all leaves HP. Huang said that given the industry focus on AI, including AI-enabled hardware devices like tablets and PCs, HP has a role to play.

But for PC manufacturers, the question remains: How can they contribute to the AI ecosystem, especially in a way that allows them to differentiate their products?

Huang said providers can provide PCs, including workstations, that can run AI workloads locally. There’s also the opportunity to include additional services; HP, for example, offers HP boost, which gives engineers and developers access to idle GPUs in workstations and assists with the AI development lifecycle.

“A lot of the AI ecosystem activity investments are going into that data center and cloud solutions area, and HP is not part of that,” Huang said.

The future. Huang said that HP’s market performance appears to have slowed a bit, potentially due to leadership changes, although the company remains a consistent performer in its space.

“Often the other vendors are looking at HP storytelling around security, so they have a quite advanced storytelling and security,” Huang said. “It’s not about the device itself these days, because you’re getting common stock—most average people aren’t going to be able to tell the difference—but around things that IT managers do care about, manageability and security and the onboarding AI era, HP is still amongst a leader.”