HCL Technologies has been recognized as the 'Innovation Award' winner at the 2025 Ericsson Supplier Awards, marking a significant achievement in the company's AI and automation capabilities. The award acknowledges HCLTech's substantial contribution to enhancing Ericsson's operational efficiency through advanced AI-driven solutions and automation technologies.

Award Recognition and Selection

HCLTech was selected from Ericsson's extensive supplier ecosystem for its exceptional support in Ericsson's transformation journey toward zero-touch operations. The recognition highlights the company's ability to deliver innovative solutions that drive measurable operational improvements for global technology leaders.

Strategic Partnership and Collaboration

The award stems from a comprehensive multi-year collaboration between HCLTech and Ericsson, focusing on three key technological areas: artificial intelligence, automation, and cloud migration. This partnership has been instrumental in enhancing operational stability and scalability across Ericsson's global operations.

Key aspects of the collaboration include:

• Supporting user environments on a global scale
• Managing critical infrastructure and applications
• Driving operational efficiency through automation
• Implementing AI-driven solutions for zero-touch operations

Leadership Perspective

Apoorv Iyer, Head of GenAI/AI Practice at HCLTech, emphasized the company's comprehensive approach to AI innovation. "At HCLTech, we are redefining AI leadership by driving end-to-end innovation – from silicon to cloud – delivering scalable solutions and fostering responsible ecosystems," Iyer stated. He highlighted that the company's vision extends beyond merely adopting AI technologies to transforming entire industries with scalability, speed, and measurable impact.

Company Profile and Scale

HCLTech operates as a global technology company with a workforce of more than 226,300 people across 60 countries. The company delivers industry-leading capabilities centered around AI, digital, engineering, cloud, and software solutions, supported by a comprehensive portfolio of technology services and products.

The company serves clients across major verticals including Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, High Tech, Semiconductor, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, Mobility, and Public Services. HCLTech's consolidated revenues for the 12 months ending December 2025 totaled $14.50 billion, demonstrating the company's substantial market presence and operational scale.

HCL Technologies CEO and MD C Vijayakumar has unveiled ambitious plans to transform AI from a perceived industry threat into a massive growth engine, targeting $2-2.5 billion in revenue from advanced AI-led businesses within the next two to three years. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he outlined how the company is positioning itself at the forefront of an unprecedented AI-driven transformation that is reshaping the global technology landscape.

Massive AI Revenue Transformation

HCLTech has emerged as one of the first Indian IT players to separately report AI monetization at scale, currently generating $148 million in advanced AI revenue. This represents a dramatic shift from virtually non-existent AI businesses just a few years ago to what Vijayakumar expects will become a $2-2.5 billion revenue stream.

The 'AI Factory' Billion-Dollar Opportunity

At the heart of HCLTech's strategy lies what Vijayakumar terms the "AI factory" — a comprehensive services opportunity emerging from the massive capital expenditure cycle underway globally. With close to $1 trillion in capex planned or already deployed across hyperscalers and large enterprises, companies require end-to-end services ranging from data center planning and GPU infrastructure to professional and managed services.

"This AI factory business is still small today — probably under $100 million — but we believe it can scale to a billion-dollar revenue stream in three to four years," Vijayakumar explained during his interview with CNBC-TV18.

Physical AI: The Next Trillion-Dollar Industry

Beyond AI factories, HCLTech is betting significantly on physical AI, which extends artificial intelligence beyond software into real-world applications. This emerging sector combines robotics, vision systems, and AI-infused workflows to enable machines to sense, understand, and act on physical environments across use cases such as warehouse automation, port management, and industrial operations.

"Analysts talk about physical AI being a trillion-dollar industry by 2030," Vijayakumar noted. "From a services perspective, this too can be another billion-dollar opportunity for us." The company's long-standing engineering and mechatronics capabilities provide a natural competitive advantage as enterprises transition from digital transformation to physical automation.

Strategic Business Model Evolution

Vijayakumar emphasized that HCLTech's targeted growth represents entirely new service categories attracting fresh discretionary spending, rather than merely AI-enabled modernization of existing IT contracts. The company is also reimagining commercial models, shifting from traditional time-and-material pricing to outcome-based contracts where clients pay for measurable improvements in speed, efficiency, and experience.

Demonstrating AI's practical integration within the organization, 25-35% of coding and development work at HCLTech is now performed by AI systems, showcasing how artificial intelligence is already transforming traditional software development processes and operational efficiency.

Future Growth Strategy

To accelerate its AI transformation, HCLTech remains actively pursuing acquisitions and talent acquisition, particularly in physical AI, agentic AI, and AI-led services. The company hired over 10,000 freshers in the first nine months, with increasing focus on elite engineers possessing the aptitude to work on advanced AI systems. This strategic approach underscores a broader industry reset where growth is driven less by headcount expansion and more by owning high-value AI platforms and services.