Hewlett Packard Enterprise has overhauled its hardware pricing policy, now honouring quoted prices from the moment they're issued until the equipment leaves its factories, rather than imposing a short expiry window. The change, which took effect on Wednesday, addresses a persistent headache for buyers caused by the AI-driven boom in demand for servers, memory and storage, which has made component costs rise steadily and fluctuate daily, previously forcing vendors to limit quote validity to as little as seven to 14 days.

The new terms apply to purchases up to $1 million across HPE's Compute, Storage and GreenLake Flex offerings, and follow an earlier extension in June from 14 to 30 days; CRN first reported the move, which The Register has verified. HPE has not explained what enables the shift, but it may reflect long-term pricing deals struck by memory makers Micron and SK Hynix, giving HPE greater cost certainty. Buyers still face steep underlying prices, however, with TrendForce forecasting server memory costs to rise 13-18 percent in the third quarter, and Gartner reporting DRAM contract prices surged 90-95 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first half of 2026, with a 271 percent year-on-year rise predicted for 2026 overall.