HP wants to become the ‘platform of choice’ as AI moves from reactive to Agentic: HP India MD Ipsita Dasgupta

As artificial intelligence (AI) transitions from a reactive tool – responding to user queries – to a proactive assistant (Agentic AI) capable of running autonomous tasks, hardware manufacturers face a massive engineering challenge. HP is positioning itself to win this next phase of computing by focusing on the critical hardware required to run heavy AI workloads locally. The company recently launched OmniPad 12 – which Ipsita Dasgupta, senior vice-president and managing director, HP India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, said will help company achieve its aim: to be the platform of choice.

“Our focus is to be the platform of choice. We recognise that people will do lots of things on the platform, and it is connecting the user to these use cases with devices that are secure, efficient and effective,” Dasgupta told The Times of India when asked about what are HP’s plan to take on the expanding role of AI in personal computing.

“The devices optimised for things like thermal power, battery power and allow for the most intense work that anyone needs to do to happen. So, think about us as the platform on which this kind of work will be done,” she added.

OmniPad 12 marks HP’s entry into a new category of personal computing, combining the productivity of a PC with the flexibility of a tablet with dual modes. It features a detachable keyboard, is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and runs on the Android operating system. The device – designed for students, first-time users and on-the-go professionals – features a 12-inch display and is claimed to offer up to 18 hours of battery life. It is priced at Priced at Rs 48,999 and available from June,

HP aims to bridge the gap between mobile and PC

While explaining about the positioning of OmniPad 12 and how HP aims bridge the movement from a mobile to a PC, Dasgupta emphasised that HP’s engineering strategy centers on creating hardware that can withstand the intense technical pressure of continuous local processing. Rather than competing to build the flashiest consumer AI applications, the tech giant is setting its sights on becoming the foundational bedrock for the next generation of software.

“OmniPad 12 is not the next step, it’s the step before. The ‘BC’ in the traditional form of the PC. It's that step that we are trying to meet customers who are mobile friendly, most comfortable with touch, very comfortable with flexibility, who want the more productive, capable construct of a PC. It's that transition for those those individuals. To bridge the movement from a mobile to a PC,” she told TOI.

How HP sees AI adoption in India and growth opportunities

When asked about whether Indians are paying a premium for AI, or they still prefer value-sensitive products, Dasgupta clarified that Indians will always go for value-for-money products, and that they want to get the work done.

“India has bet on technology. As productivity becomes more important, and technology becomes more more a part of productivity today, we want to enable a workforce that can service the whole world. Given how young our population is, we want create ways on the PC to have skilling and better income generation opportunities; and tools as well as capabilities. My belief is, we're going to see a shift towards that being the major spend in a household,” Dasgupta pointed out.

She said that since consumers are intuitively using AI all the time now, so it's only a matter of time before they feel that computing power will be necessary.