HP Inc. inherited the consumer-facing side of the Hewlett-Packard legacy: laptops, desktops, workstations, and the printing empire that had long been one of the most profitable segments of the original company. The LaserJet line, introduced in 1984, had made HP synonymous with office printing, and the inkjet and large-format businesses extended that dominance into homes and creative studios. After the split, HP Inc. operated with roughly 50,000 employees and annual revenue exceeding $50 billion. The company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HPQ, the same symbol the combined company had used. In a separation where identity was carefully negotiated, those two letters carried weight.

HP Inc. competes in one of the most brutal segments of the technology industry. Personal computer margins are thin, product cycles are relentless, and competition from Lenovo, Dell, and Apple is unforgiving. Yet HP Inc. has consistently ranked among the top PC vendors globally by unit sales. Its gaming brand, OMEN, targets the growing esports market. Its commercial workstations serve engineers, architects, and content creators. The company's 3D printing division, building on HP's deep expertise in inkjet technology, represents a bet that additive manufacturing will become a significant industrial market. The challenge for HP Inc. has always been the same challenge that prompted the split: how to maintain relevance and profitability in hardware businesses where the margins keep compressing.

HP Inc. maintains its headquarters in Palo Alto, within sight of the startup ecosystem that Hewlett and Packard helped create. The company operates in more than 170 countries, manufacturing PCs and printers at scale for a global market. Its ink and toner supplies business -- the razor-and-blades model applied to printing -- remains a significant revenue driver. For all its global reach, HP Inc. carries forward a specifically Californian legacy. The HP Way, the management philosophy that Hewlett and Packard developed around trust, respect, and employee autonomy, is woven into the company's stated values. Whether a 50,000-person multinational can truly replicate the culture of a two-person garage is an open question, but the aspiration itself says something about what those founders built.