At least one in four PCs sold by the US computer maker are AI-enabled and that could grow as customers upgrade
[SINGAPORE] The lockdowns stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic drove the revenues of many tech companies as people who were forced to remain at home rushed to upgrade their tech, be it for work or for leisure.
Then the unveiling of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022 helped drive growth for tech companies again.
Much of that artificial intelligence (AI)-fuelled growth, though, has benefited companies involved with making the chips that power AI applications. However, there are now signs the generative AI-led boom is also driving revenues of companies making products used by the general population.
HP, the US-based PC and printer maker, said in an earnings presentation for its fiscal third quarter that it now sells at least one AI PC for every four PCs it sells, and these more advanced computers are arguably helping drive revenue growth.
“We have grown our business the last five quarters in a row. We have been able to grow revenue again, and PC is a large contributor to that,” HP’s chief commercial officer Dave McQuarrie told The Business Times on the sidelines of an event celebrating the company’s 55th anniversary in Singapore on Monday (Oct 6).
The company’s revenue reached US$13.9 billion for the third quarter ended Jul 31, 2025, up 3.1 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
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Revenue for its personal systems segment, which includes a range of computing devices for both consumer and commercial markets, rose 6 per cent year on year to reach US$9.9 billion. HP’s financial year ends on Oct 31, 2025.
Yet, he is optimistic there is more growth to come, making the argument for AI PCs, and how newer technology could unlock productivity gains and change the way we work.
AI PCs are personal computers built using advanced hardware that are designed to run AI applications and tasks locally, and the term has been used by PC makers to promote what they see as a new era of personal computing.
These AI PCs are able to run certain tasks such as generating images or live translations without having to go through the cloud, meaning that these tasks could be completed at a faster rate. McQuarrie said the “job” that HP has now is to explain to people the benefits of buying an AI PC.
A sustained growth in the PC segment for HP would also help offset declining printing revenue, which currently accounts for 29 per cent of the company’s revenue.
HP’s business in Asia
HP’s “job”, as McQuarrie puts it, comes at a time where the PC market is expected to enter an upgrade cycle due to the end of support for Windows 10 that is happening this month, and following the last upgrade cycle that happened during the pandemic.
And McQuarrie is excited about the potential from the Asia-Pacific region.
“In Asia, we have a significantly growing set of new customers who are emerging middle classes, emerging users of tech and education funded by governments. That’s leading to an adoption of technology at a rate that other countries can only dream of,” he said.
Revenue from Asia-Pacific made up 24 per cent of HP’s earnings for the three months ended Jul 31, 2025, lower than the 44 per cent from the Americas and the 32 per cent from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Yet revenue in the Asia-Pacific region has been trending upwards for HP compared to the Americas and EMEA where revenues have been flat.
The growth in the Asia-Pacific can also arguably be attributed to optimism surrounding several economies in the region.
The Asian Development Bank’s latest forecast released at the end of September projected that economies in the region are expected to grow 4.8 per cent this year and 4.5 per cent next year, shaving off only 0.1 and 0.2 percentage point, respectively, after accounting for the new global trade environment that is being shaped by tariffs and updated trade agreements.
“We see a growing group of professionals. Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) has long been a hub and a generator of entrepreneurial innovation,” McQuarrie said. “Wherever in APJ you look, you find growth of market, but you also find innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, which is right for the things we sell.”
HP also launched Garage 2.0, an innovation platform, at its event on Monday. Through this initiative, it will back selected startups to try to accelerate growth, spearhead AI breakthroughs and strengthen Singapore’s position as a global innovation hub.
The programme is aimed at building on HP’s legacy of invention and is named Garage 2.0, in recognition of the company’s beginnings. HP’s founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard worked out of a garage in Palo Alto, California, in the company’s early days, and that garage served as a research lab development workshop and manufacturing facility for early products.
McQuarrie said Singapore has long been an innovation hub for HP. Its factory in the Republic is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network, which recognises the most advanced operational sites globally.
“Five-and-a-half decades of innovating from Singapore makes it obvious. The Singapore government is committed to continuing to fuel and fund that sort of innovation, and we have a terrific partnership with them to do it,” he said.
