HPE has told partners it has updated its Ts & Cs to allow for price adjustments “up to the day of shipment” on server and GreenLake orders.
In a letter sent to partners yesterday, seen by IT Channel Oxygen, global channel boss Simon Ewington confirmed the vendor is making some changes to its pricing and quote validity terms in response to ongoing supply constraints (see full letter, bottom).
Channel partners were last month told to brace for “pandemic levels” of kit shortages in 2026, with the AI boom to blame.
Only yesterday, Amazon raised the stakes in the AI race as it confirmed it intends to raise capital spending to $200bn in 2026.
In the letter, Ewington acknowledged the global IT industry is experiencing “supply constraints and pricing increases driven by Al demand and a strategic shift by manufacturers toward high-margin advanced products”.
HPE is “committed to being transparent with these changes and partnering closely with you throughout this period”, Ewington stressed.
In perhaps the most striking paragraph, he appeared to acknowledge that HPE could no longer guarantee prices on server and GreenLake orders.
“As part of [the changes HPE is making], we will shorten the quote validity windows to 14 days (excluding public sector, B2B, OEM) and have updated the contract terms and conditions for server and GreenLake orders to allow for price adjustments until the date of shipment,” Ewington stated.
“Given how the commodity increases impact the industry and especially our customers, we would remind partners that orders can be cancelled at any point until shipment to provide maximum.”
One partner leader we spoke to characterised the development as “unprecedented”.
“I haven’t ever known it where someone turns around and goes, ‘we can’t guarantee the price even after you’ve placed an order’,” they said.
“The question will be, in the next few days and weeks, will people like Lenovo and Dell follow HPE?”
Another, however, said they’d be “gobsmacked” if HPE levied a new price after accepting an order.
“The expectations are that the shortages are going to continue into next year. It’s not going to be like the pandemic, when it was a few months. It’s going to be 12 months plus, unless of course the AI bubble bursts,” a third partner leader told us.
The news comes after Insight CEO Joyce Mullen said she expected hardware prices to hike by 10-25% in 2026.
In an additional comment to IT Channel Oxygen, an HPE spokesperson said:
“HPE is committed to working with customers and partners to provide as much stability as possible throughout this industry-wide market volatility, but there are impacts to pricing and quote validity. The letter was sent to partners in the interest of transparency and partnership.”
Full letter…
Dear Valued Partners,
As has been widely reported, the global IT industry is experiencing supply constraints and pricing increases driven by Al demand and a strategic shift by manufacturers toward high-margin advanced products. These pressures are impacting all IT manufacturers and are not specific to HPE or any single company.
The components impacted include dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), NAND, solid-state drive (SSD) components, and high performance networking silicon and optical components.
The supply constraints are affecting HPE offerings across compute, hybrid cloud, and networking portfolios, resulting in fluctuating delivery times and pricing. HPE will do all we can to maintain stability for customers, and we are committed to being transparent with these changes and partnering closely with you throughout this period.
However, there are impacts to pricing and quote validity being made in response to these market conditions. As part of this, we will shorten the quote validity windows to 14 days (excluding public sector, B2B, OEM) and have updated the contract terms and conditions for server and GreenLake orders to allow for price adjustments until the date of shipment.
Given how the commodity increases impact the industry and especially our customers, we would remind partners that orders can be cancelled at any point until shipment to provide maximum flexibility in these unprecedented times. Additionally, sellers and partners should now obtain separate quotes for compute and block storage.
I urge you to work closely with your HPE account manager on all key deals as early as possible in the sales cycle, so we can help you drive toward solutions with the greatest availability for your customers’ needs.
Please keep in mind that you can also leverage HPE Financial Services’ financing programs to get technology today and ramp up payments over time, or consider HPE Certified Pre-Owned products.
The situation remains fluid and fast evolving, so bookmark and continue to check the Worldwide Supply Constraints for Partners Briefcase regularly for the latest information.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership and understanding. For questions, please reach out to your HPE account manager or the HPE Partner Response Center.
Kind regards,
Simon Ewington
SVP, WW Channel & Partner Ecosystem
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
