HCLTech Heads into 2026 with AI Advantages

HCLTech’s AI alignment and Foundry depth set the stage for a pivotal 2026

During an October update from HCLTech executives about the company’s overall AI strategy, TBR noted two areas that should differentiate HCLTech from its peers in the IT services and consulting space. Given the rapidly changing nature of the AI ecosystem, disruptive changes coming to IT services and consulting organizations, and broad uncertainty about AI adoption in the near term, any advantages HCLTech develops and leverages will be critical to the company’s ability to sustain market-leading growth.
 

Aligning alliance, acquisition and industry strategies around AI and then executing on that alignment should be one of HCLTech’s strengths. Taking full advantage of the breadth and depth of HCLTech’s AI Foundry should be another. HCLTech’s efforts in these areas have positioned it well in a wildly fluctuating market. TBR has written extensively about challenges in the AI space, particularly for IT services companies and consultancies. Based on TBR’s research, 2026 should be a pivotal year for HCLTech.

A tightly coordinated approach across acquisitions, alliances and industries sets HCLTech apart in AI

Acquisitions, alliances and industry strategies align in market-leading IT services companies, particularly around emerging technologies such as AI. Looking at HCLTech’s activities over 2025, TBR sees a layered approach to expanding AI-enabled solutions and offerings, guided by strategic decisions within acquisitions, alliances and industries. For example, in the last year the company acquired Nuance as well as Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Communications Technology Group, bolstering HCLTech’s AI capabilities and complementing previous acquisitions, such as Zeena and ASAP. Given the company’s modest acquisition pace relative to peers such as Accenture and Cognizant, by favoring AI-related acquisitions HCLTech has demonstrated its overall AI strategy encompasses an acquisition-forward approach.
 

In concert with those acquisitions, HCLTech has also increased the depth and breadth of its AI technology partnerships, most notably across its ecosystem of hyperscalers as well as Databricks and Snowflake. In presenting the company’s alliances strategy, HCLTech executives noted “best-of-breed partnerships” across applications & products, models, data, infrastructure, and physical AI. Although each partnership may not be singular in the highly competitive IT services and AI market, TBR believes HCLTech’s strategy of choosing specific, named partners and going to market together with joint offerings and solutions provides some differentiation from the traditional technology-agnostic approach. HCLTech takes it a few steps further by including startups and academic institutions in the company’s overall alliances strategy. Extending an understanding of the ecosystem beyond just the largest commercial players echoes HCLTech’s decision to expand its AI alliances strategy across acquisitions and industries.
 

“We’re actually building some very innovative industry solutions, going beyond the horizontal data analytics and AI value chain. Our plan, obviously, is to expand the industry-focused solutions so that you shift from the horizontal value chain of data analytics and AI to more packaged industry solutions that our customers can deploy faster to create the value with AI.” — HCLTech Executive, October 2025

Rounding out the trio of aligned strategies, perhaps with AI at the center of a Venn diagram, HCLTech’s industries strategy reflects the influence of alliances and acquisitions. In a recent presentation to TBR, HCLTech executives highlighted use cases across financial services, manufacturing, utilities, and life sciences & healthcare, tracking closely with the company’s largest and fastest-growing industries. In a coordinated approach across acquisitions and alliances, HCLTech has launched at least eight AI-enabled solutions specifically attuned to HCLTech’s ecosystem partners, such as InsightGen, an Amazon Web Services (AWS)-based tool for financial services clients. Further, HCLTech has established AI-enabled HCLTech Industry Focused Repeatable Solutions, demonstrating the company’s emphasis on playing to its strengths and developing additional revenue growth from its top industries.
 

In TBR’s view, HCLTech’s overall AI strategy benefits from a coherent and aligned story around alliances, acquisitions and industry plays. AI-enabled solutions, AI factories, AI platforms and AI partnerships have become table stakes for every scaled IT services company, making differentiation nearly impossible on those three areas alone. Orchestrating acquisitions and industry strategies along with alliance partners to help them sell customers on HCLTech’s value can truly become differentiators as part of the company’s long-term plan. In the near term, keeping these elements aligned will be essential for 2026 growth.

HCLTech’s AI Foundry emerges as a full-stack engine for talent, trust and future AI growth

AI Foundry was launched more than a year ago, and HCLTech now considers it a cornerstone of the company’s overall AI program, as noted in the recent HCLTech presentation to TBR. One HCLTech executive said the “evolved” AI Foundry has become about “managing the data-to-dollar value chain better. It’s powered by robust, world-class infrastructure that is hybrid and multicloud, giving customers flexibility to use HCLTech software or other ecosystem tools.”
 

“Legacy — and maybe more accurately, proven — skills and capabilities lend immediate credibility to what HCLTech brings to clients and partners with AI Force. Further, a significant part of what separates HCLTech from immediate peers is the company’s IP-driven services model, a strategic difference that becomes increasingly relevant as clients ask for more GenAI-enabled services and less labor-dependent services. HCLTech’s business model is not simply enhanced by AI Force and other IP-driven solutions; it might actually be saved by those capabilities as the entire IT services business model undergoes significant, AI-induced change.” — TBR special report, HCLTech AI Force: Scalable, Modular and Backed by Proven AI Expertise

With components including business templates, AI agent, AI policies & governance, and prebuilt analytics & AI utilities, HCLTech AI Foundry appears to capture nearly every aspect of an enterprise client’s AI needs. As an HCLTech executive said during a recent briefing, AI Foundry is “unique because it leverages specialized AI agents for different personas across the data life cycle, enabling automation, actionable insights and significant productivity improvements.” TBR cannot assess the uniqueness of HCLTech’s AI Foundry but notes that building this capability brings three immediate benefits to HCLTech.

• First, AI Foundry’s completeness sends a clear message to clients and technology partners that HCLTech has the commitment to and the capabilities in AI to be a trusted, scale-delivering partner and provider. In a hype-filled market around an ever-changing emerging technology, the most compelling stories include breadth and depth, which AI Foundry offers.
• Second, a high-functioning AI Foundry should help HCLTech recruit and retain AI talent. Every discussion TBR has with IT services companies, consultancies, technology decision makers, startups and ecosystem players includes a lament about the lack of AI talent. Demonstrating leadership commitment and a sustained willingness to invest should bolster HCLTech’s attractiveness to potential and existing talent.
• Third, AI Foundry helps position HCLTech for growth. Four years ago, enterprises were not investing in generative AI (GenAI) licenses, and two years ago, IT services companies were selling robotic process automation but not robots (agentic AI). In a year, a new evolution of AI could reignite the AI hype cycle, and HCLTech is well positioned to take advantage given the completeness of its AI strategy, including AI Foundry. As one HCLTech executive recently said, “Our entire AI strategy is full stack … from physical AI to eventually the AI product, apps and application integration.” TBR would add that governance, prebuilt utilities and ecosystem tools within AI Foundry underscore how “full stack” HCLTech’s AI strategy has become.