HP joins hands with Google to manufacture Chromebooks in India; eyes increased adoption

Person computer market leader HP announced a partnership with Google to manufacture Chromebooks in India. Chromebooks are affordable PCs running Google’s Chromebook OS, and come with built-in accessibility and security features. Currently, Chromebooks have a low-single-digit share in HP’s overall portfolio in India. However, the move to manufacture them locally will cater to the demand for affordable PCs in India, mainly from the education sector.

India is focusing on digital education and many government schools are investing in computing hardware, which includes laptops, desktops and tablets. According to information available with Business Today, the local manufacturing of Chromebooks (which are in the price range of Rs 20,000–30,000) is likely to help HP secure orders from government schools as well. With this, HP also intends to counter the 9-inch tablet market with its 11-inch Chromebooks.

Also, considering Chromebooks are low-cost hardware, even with the local manufacturing, the pricing would remain competitive. These devices will be manufactured at the Flex Facility near Chennai—where HP has been producing a range of laptops and desktops since August 2020—starting October 2.

Vickram Bedi, Senior Director–Personal Systems, HP India, said, "HP is committed to advancing digital equity, and we have been driving many initiatives to enable digital education across India. Manufacturing Chromebook laptops in India will allow Indian students to get easy access to affordable PCs. By further expanding our manufacturing operations, we continue to support the Make in India initiative of the Government."

Google’s Chromebook is popular amongst education sector globally and is picking up in India as well.

Bani Dhawan, Head of Education–South Asia, Google, said, “At Google, we’ve been working closely with the local education ecosystem, supporting them in their transition to digital-first learning experiences through our products and teacher programs. The local production of Chromebooks with HP marks an important step in our efforts to continue supporting the digital transformation of education in India. We hope this collaboration will help accelerate the adoption of technology in more schools so that every student and educator has access to the tools and skills to pursue their personal potential.”

With this partnership, the two tech giants aim to increase support for digital education ecosystem in India and help more students enhance their education by providing affordable, safe, and high-quality computing devices to education authorities, schools, and institutions. Overall, Chromebooks are the leading device in K-12 education, helping over 50 million students and teachers across the world.

HP has significantly expanded its manufacturing operations in India since 2020 and from December 2021, started manufacturing a wide range of laptops in India, including HP EliteBooks, HP ProBooks, and HP G8 series notebooks. HP also expanded its portfolio of locally manufactured commercial desktops by adding various models of desktop mini towers (MT), mini desktops (DM), small form factor (SFF) desktops, and a range of All-in-One PCs. These products include both Intel and AMD processor options and cater to a wide range of customer segments. HP says this new development only reaffirms its commitment to the government's Make in India initiative. The development comes days after HP has applied for the Production Linked Incentive 2.0 for IT hardware.

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