Today we’re going to take you through the ins and outs of a technology company that makes the personal computers we use at work and at home. 

But here’s the twist. The company was founded all the way back in 1939 when there were no fully electronic computers, and where Palo Alto, Califonia was not a Silicon Valley hub, but an area filled with fruit orchards. 

Make a guess – bingo if you’ve guessed HP! HP’s founding story takes us back to the 1930s, when American culture was dominated by sound film and radio, made possible by electronic signalling. 

Inspired by the zeitgeist, two Stanford University friends, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard decided to work part-time building devices in a Palo Alto garage. In 1938 and with only US$538 in capital, the duo invented the HP Model 200A, which was an oscillator that was used to test sound equipment. 

What was worthy of note was how The Walt Disney Company actually bought 8 of the HP oscillators to get movie theatres ready to screen Fantasia in 1940. 

The company was formalised as Hewlett-Packard in the 1940s, as a result of a coin toss to decide whether Bill or Dave’s name comes first, and grew in success over the years as the electronic industry expanded.

But why are we speaking to HP you might ask? Well, per data by Statista, HP is a market leader in the global PC space, coming in at second place with a market share of 27.2 per cent in 2025. But what is the ongoing demand for PCs like? 

Also, what will the future of work look like with AI-processes embedded in employees’ workflows, and what does this mean for HP when it comes to new product designs and launches? How will AI adoption augment the firm’s growth trajectory globally and right here in Southeast Asia?

Speaking of Southeast Asia, HP chose Singapore to launch Garage 2.0, an initiative where the technology company lends its engineering expertise and business insights to accelerate the growth of AI startups. But why did it choose to launch the programme in sunny Singapore? How important is Singapore or Southeast Asia to the firm?

On Under the Radar, finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Koh Kong Meng, Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Singapore, HP.