From October 2, HP will start making Chromebooks in India

In order to support the government’s initiatives to encourage IT hardware production in the nation, HP Inc. has teamed up with Google to manufacture Chromebooks in India.

The Flex factory outside Chennai, where HP has been producing a variety of laptops and desktops since August 2020, will be used to make Chromebooks, computers that run Google’s Chrome operating system. Beginning on October 2, HP Chromebooks will be produced to meet India’s growing demand for inexpensive PCs, which is primarily coming from the education sector.

By combining incentives and import restrictions, India is attempting to increase domestic manufacture of laptops and other IT products. The proposed import control system aims to lower imports, while the government’s production-linked initiatives (PLIs) provide money to encourage businesses to make in India.

“Chromebook laptops made in India will make it simple for Indian students to obtain low-cost PCs. We continue supporting the government’s Make in India plan by growing our manufacturing capabilities, said Vickram Bedi, senior director of personal systems at HP India. HP has led numerous projects to allow digital education across India as part of its commitment to advancing digital equity.

Over 50 million students and teachers worldwide use Chromebooks, which are the industry standard for K–12 education. By offering inexpensive, secure, and high-quality computing equipment to educational authorities, schools, and institutions, the partnership will advance a shared aim to support the digital education ecosystem in India and help more students to improve their learning.

“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, head of education for South Asia at Google. “We hope that by working together, we will accelerate the adoption of technology in more schools, ensuring that every student and teacher has access to the resources they need to reach their full potential.”

HP is one of the main players in the PLI program for IT hardware, under which the government will contribute a portion of the profits from locally produced IT hardware.

When HP began producing many different types of laptops in India in December 2021, including its EliteBooks, ProBooks, and G8 series notebooks, it rapidly grew the size of its manufacturing facilities there. Additionally, it added several models of desktop mini towers, mini desktops, small form factor desktops, and a variety of all-in-one PCs to its lineup of locally produced commercial desktops. These products serve a number of consumer sectors and offer both Intel and AMD processor options.