Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is now offering customers greater certainty about the pricing of new servers and storage systems. For a large portion of its portfolio, accepted quotes will now remain valid until the systems leave the factory, even if months pass.
The policy change took effect on Wednesday and applies to Compute, Storage, and GreenLake Flex orders valued at up to $1 million. CRN was the first to break the news, after which The Register confirmed that HPE had indeed implemented the new pricing policy.
The change marks a clear shift in strategy. Due to strong demand for AI infrastructure, prices for servers, memory, and storage components have risen rapidly in recent years and have also been volatile. Hardware suppliers, therefore, significantly limited the validity period of quotes to avoid having to ship products at a loss. At HPE, a quote was initially valid for fourteen days, but that period was extended to thirty days as early as June.
This regularly caused problems for customers. Organizations often request quotes while investment plans are still being evaluated internally. If component prices rise in the meantime, a project can end up costing more than expected.
With the new policy, HPE largely eliminates that uncertainty. Once a quote is accepted, the agreed-upon price remains in effect until the hardware is shipped. According to HPE, this provides greater predictability and simplicity for customers and partners.
Greater confidence in its own costs
HPE has not explained why it can take this step now. However, the timing suggests the manufacturer has gained greater certainty about its own procurement costs. For example, memory manufacturers Micron and SK Hynix recently signed several long-term supply contracts in which prices are fixed for an extended period. If HPE has made similar agreements, the company will be better able to mitigate the risks of price fluctuations.
Hardware remains expensive
However, the fact that the quoted price is fixed for a longer period does not mean that hardware will become cheaper. Research firm TrendForce expects server memory prices to rise again by 13 to 18 percent in the third quarter due to ongoing shortages.
Gartner also sees the memory market coming under further pressure. According to the research firm, contract prices for DRAM memory rose by 90 to 95 percent in the first half of 2026 compared to the previous quarter. For NAND flash, the increase reached 55 to 60 percent. Gartner even expects the average DRAM price for all of 2026 to ultimately be 271 percent higher than a year earlier.
For customers, the new HPE policy means greater predictability. However, the cost remains high, as the underlying costs of AI-related hardware do not appear to be falling for the time being. According to The Register, the longer validity of quotes may indicate that HPE is confident prices for key components will be less volatile in the near term.