Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise advanced 5% on Wednesday after the company disclosed a $1.2 billion order from cloud provider Vultr for AMD Helios AI Rack systems to be deployed across Vultr's U.S. data centers. The stock touched a 52-week high of $67.10 during the session and has now gained more than 160% year to date.
The contract represents HPE's first order for the new AMD Helios system and secures a marquee customer for AMD's latest rack-scale AI platform. Under the agreement, HPE will supply networking infrastructure, liquid cooling and deployment services for the installations.
What the AMD Helios racks contain
Each AMD Helios rack integrates 72 AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs with AMD EPYC "Venice" CPUs, Pensando Vulcano AI networking cards and ROCm software. According to HPE, AMD designed the configuration for training trillion-parameter models as well as high-volume inference workloads.
HPE's contribution includes six HPE Juniper Networking QFX5252 scale-up Ethernet switch trays per rack to connect all 72 GPUs, along with liquid cooling and deployment services delivered through its global services organization.
The order extends a relationship between Vultr and Juniper Networks that stretches back nearly three years, predating HPE's acquisition of Juniper, which closed in 2025. Vultr CEO J.J. Kardwell said demand for high-performance AI infrastructure "continues to outpace available capacity," adding that the new systems would help Vultr bring rack-scale computing and networking online faster for customers running large training and inference workloads.
HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri framed the deal in broader terms: "AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout in history and together with AMD and Vultr, we are building an open foundation to accelerate the next phase of AI."
Networking guidance raised
Separately, HPE updated its outlook for fiscal 2027 and beyond. The company now expects networking revenue to grow in the high-teens to low-20s percentage range in fiscal 2027, citing share gains in the data-center networking market.
Over a longer horizon, HPE projects data-center networking revenue to grow at a low-to-high 50s percentage compound annual rate through fiscal 2029, while routing revenue is expected to expand in the low-to-high 20s percentage range over the same period.
Rami Rahim, executive vice president and general manager of Networking at HPE, said AI is increasing the strategic importance of networking and driving additional demand from enterprises and service providers. "AI is reshaping the technology stack, making the network more strategic and driving significant new demand from enterprises and service providers," Rahim said, adding that HPE intends to capture that demand through its networking portfolio, sales reach and cross-selling capabilities.
Juniper synergy target lifted
HPE also raised its target for annual run-rate savings from the Juniper Networks acquisition. The company now expects to achieve $800 million in annual run-rate savings by the end of fiscal 2028, up from its previous goal of at least $600 million.
The higher synergy figure accompanies HPE's longer-term networking expectations and underscores the role of AI infrastructure in fueling demand for networking products. For investors, the combination of a first-of-its-kind AI rack order, an expanded cost-savings target and upgraded growth projections gives the company multiple levers to justify its valuation, though execution on deployment timelines and competitive pressure in AI hardware remain key variables to monitor.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
