HPE exceeded its $12.1‑billion high‑end revenue target for fiscal 2026 Q3, fueled by AI‑driven enterprise demand.
For the quarter ending July 31, revenue hit $12.2 billion, up 34 % year‑over‑year, with GAAP net income of $1.5 billion, representing a 405 % YoY surge in profitability. Inferencing and agentic‑AI workloads drove record‑level orders. Subsequent to quarter‑end, a hyperscaler awarded HPE a $3.5‑billion server inferencing contract.
HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri stated: “Our results show sustained profitable growth momentum. We achieved record revenue, orders and profitability, powered by broad‑based customer demand across our portfolio. AI has become a multi‑year growth driver for HPE, and our differentiated product lineup enables us to capture this opportunity at scale.”
He added during earnings commentary: “AI expands demand across our full portfolio. Both business segments saw accelerating quarterly customer demand, with orders outpacing revenue. We booked the highest quarterly orders in company history, yielding an all‑time record backlog.”
Quarterly financial highlights:
‑ Gross margin: 40.1 %, versus 36.9 % prior quarter and 29.9 % year‑ago
‑ Operating cash flow: $1.6 billion, compared to $1.4 billion last quarter and $1.3 billion one year earlier
‑ Free cash flow: record $1.0 billion, versus $915 million prior quarter and $790 million YoY
‑ Diluted EPS: record $1.06, against $0.44 last quarter and $0.21 YoY
‑ Cash & cash equivalents: $6.2 billion, up from $5.3 billion prior quarter and $4.7 billion YoY
‑ Total net debt: $14.0 billion, down from $16 billion last quarter
HPE is deleveraging faster than planned, aided by $1.4 billion proceeds from its exit from the China‑based H3C operation.
Its two core business units are Networking and Cloud+AI. The Networking segment generated $2.9 billion revenue (+74.9 % YoY), with orders rising 36 % to $700 million. Segment components:
‑ Campus and Branch: $1.4 billion (+31 % YoY), new record
‑ Data Center Networking: $382 million (-6 % YoY)
‑ Security: $281 million (+12 % YoY)
‑ Routing: $788 million (+23 % YoY)
Neri noted networking orders are growing 3.5‑times faster than revenue, constrained by supply availability. He expects supply‑order alignment to improve starting Q4.
Cloud+AI posted 25.4 % YoY revenue growth to a record $9 billion:
‑ Server: $6.8 billion (+35.3 % YoY)
‑ Storage: $1.3 billion (+10.2 % YoY)
‑ Financial Services: $0.9 billion (-0.3 % YoY)
‑ Other: $278 million (+3 % YoY)
Supply limitations for memory and NAND restricted shipment volumes. Neri explained HPE is working closely with partners to secure multi‑year supply pacts. Servers underpinned the strong performance, buoyed by appetite for conventional and AI systems among large enterprises, emerging cloud providers and sovereign buyers. HPE’s sales pipeline far exceeds its current backlog, pointing to persistently strong demand.
EVP and CFO Marie Myers credited higher average selling prices for record server revenue. “Enterprises are shifting from AI pilots into production deployments, deploying standard servers for agentic‑AI and inferencing workloads.”
Neri observed a fundamental structural shift within the server industry. “Customers now evaluate IT infrastructure not only on AI‑run capability, but on its capacity to enable new business workflows via AI applications. AI‑related projects attract greater investment and board‑level sponsorship to drive business transformation.”
The $3.5‑billion hyperscaler inferencing deal supports the client’s internal workloads and uses standard servers rather than GPU‑equipped AI systems.
Turning to storage, Neri pointed to record quarterly revenue, supported by HPE’s internally‑developed multi‑protocol platform built for AI‑era requirements. Enterprises are modernizing storage while preparing for AI workloads, prioritizing data proximity to AI infrastructure and control over sensitive datasets, lifting uptake of HPE’s storage offerings. “We remain confident our complete storage value proposition will sustain this momentum.”
Myers added Alletra MP achieved strong double‑digit YoY gains in orders and revenue. The X10K object‑file system holds solid growth potential, expanding AI‑focused offerings for fast‑growing unstructured‑data use‑cases. Comparative revenue figures show HPE outperformed Everpure this quarter yet still lags NetApp and market‑leading Dell.
HPE’s GreenLake subscription business continues expanding; its customer base rose 18 % YoY to 52 000. Internally, HPE leverages agentic AI built on its Private Cloud AI (PCAI), open‑source and open‑weight models. Intelligent workload routing directs requests to optimal‑cost AI models, cutting token expenses by up to 60 % relative to public‑cloud alternatives. Routine tasks run on‑premises, while advanced models handle highly complex assignments.
Driven by Q3 results and record backlog, HPE raised its financial guidance. Q4 revenue outlook stands at $14.4 billion ± $450 million, representing a 48.8 % mid‑point YoY increase. Full‑year fiscal 2026 guidance is lifted to $46.5 billion ± $515 million (mid‑point +35.5 % YoY). HPE also upgraded fiscal 2027 consolidated revenue growth guidance from 8‑12 % to 13‑17 %, supported by robust demand, large post‑quarter deals and elevated backlog. Neri stated market signals indicate demand remains exceptionally strong.
HPE‑Oracle collaboration: HPE Juniper routing‑switching hardware underpins Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s data‑center and edge networks as OCI expands its AI superclusters. Oracle is procuring additional Juniper gear for global multi‑year deployment, including PTX/MX routers, QFX/EX switches and associated support services. New‑generation QFX switches deliver high‑density connectivity, dynamic load balancing and advanced congestion management for RoCEv2 AI backend fabrics. Both firms also jointly develop intelligent telemetry for deeper visibility across network devices and fabrics.
Beijing Qianxing Jietong Technology Co., Ltd.
Sandy Yang/Global Strategy Director
WhatsApp / WeChat: +86 13426366826
Email: yangyd@qianxingdata.com
Website: www.qianxingdata.com/www.storagesserver.com
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