HP Partners With Google to Manufacture Chromebooks in India Starting Next Month

HP is collaborating with Google to manufacture Chromebooks in India to meet local requirements, the PC maker said on Thursday (September 28). The Chromebooks will be manufactured at the company’s Flex Facility near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. HP has been producing a range of laptops and desktops in this facility since 2020. Companies including Samsung, and Apple already meet a majority of the domestic demand through local manufacturing. As the Indian government is pushing to boost domestic manufacturing capacity under its “Make in India” initiative, several global technology players are either setting up their own units in the country or forming joint ventures with Indian firms.

PC and printing major HP via a press release announced that it is reaffirming its commitment to the government’s Make in India initiative by manufacturing Chromebooks in the county with Google. The Chromebooks will be produced at HP’s Flex Facility near Chennai starting October 2 to meet the local requirements. The company says the new partnership will propel a joint vision to support the digital education ecosystem in India by providing affordable computing devices to education authorities, schools, and institutions.

HP has been manufacturing a range of laptops and desktops in its Flex Facility since August 2020. The company started producing models like HP EliteBooks, HP ProBooks, and HP G8 series notebooks in the country in December 2021.

“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” said Vickram Bedi, Senior Director – Personal Systems, HP India.

“The local production of Chromebooks with HP marks an important step in our efforts to continue supporting the digital transformation of education in India,” said Bani Dhawan Google’s Head of Education – South Asia.

The Union Cabinet earlier in May approved a Rs. 17,000 crore incentive to boost local manufacturing of IT hardware like tablets and laptops in India and HP is one of the applicants under the latest production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Dell Technologies, Asus, Acer, and Lenovo have also applied to make laptops and other products in India

HP would be the latest global technology player to expand its production footprint in India. Apple has used the PLI programme to widen its supplier base in India, while Samsung is starting a new laptop manufacturing unit at its Greater Noida facility. Google is also looking for Pixel phone assemblers in the country