The outfit said it plans to cut between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs worldwide by fiscal 2028 as it tries to slim down operations and lean on AI to speed development, keep customers sweet and squeeze more work out of fewer staff. Shares fell 5.5 per cent in extended trading, suggesting the cocaine-nose jobs of Wall Street were not thrilled.

HP chief executive Enrique Lores said teams in product development, internal operations and customer support will take the hit.

Lores said: “We expect this initiative will create $1 billion in gross run rate savings over three years.”

The company also quietly shoved between 1,000 and 2,000 workers out the door in February as part of an earlier restructuring plan.

Demand for AI-flavoured PCs has been climbing and made up more than 30 per cent of HP’s shipments in the fourth quarter ending 31 October. The surge has arrived at the same time as a global spike in memory chip prices driven by data centre demand, which Morgan Stanley analysts fear will squeeze margins at HP, Dell and Acer.

Big Tech’s frantic build-out of AI infrastructure has pushed up prices for DRAM and NAND, the two bits of memory everyone needs for servers. Lores said HP expects to feel the worst of it in the second half of fiscal 2026, although it has enough supplies in the cupboard for the first half.

Lores said: “We are taking a prudent approach to our guide for the second half, while at the same time implementing aggressive actions like qualifying lower cost suppliers, reducing memory configurations and taking price actions.”

The company forecast fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of between $2.90 and $3.20 per share, which missed the analysts’ average of $3.33. First quarter adjusted earnings should land between 73 and 81 cents, with the midpoint under the market’s 79-cent target.

Revenue for the fourth quarter reached $14.64 billion, beating the $14.48 billion forecast, even as the PC market continues to shuffle along.