HP partners with Google to make Chromebooks in India from next month

PC maker HP has joined hands with Google to manufacture Chromebooks in India from October 2, the company said on Thursday.

The Chromebook devices will be manufactured at the Flex Facility near Chennai, where HP has been producing a range of laptops and desktops since August 2020, it said in a statement.

"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," HP India, Senior Director - Personal Systems, Vickram Bedi said.

HP is one of the applicants under the government's Rs 17,000 crore production linked incentive scheme for IT hardware.

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

Chromebooks come at a lower price compared to notebooks with proprietary operating system.

According to the statement, Chromebooks, which come with Google's ChromeOS, are the leading devices in K-12 education, helping over 50 million students and teachers across the world.

"This partnership will propel a joint vision to support the digital education ecosystem in India and help more students enhance their learning by providing affordable, safe, and high-quality computing devices to education authorities, schools, and institutions," the statement said.

The move will expands HP's India-made PC portfolio.

HP has been expanding its manufacturing operations in India since 2020 and from December 2021, it 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.