HPE said on 30 September 2026 it had won a $1.2 billion order from Vultr for AMD Helios AI Rack by HPE systems at the cloud provider’s US data centres, its first order for the system.
Key points
- Vultr plans to deploy the AMD-based racks at its US cloud data centres.
- HPE says each rack combines 72 AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs with six HPE Juniper Networking Ethernet switch trays.
- HPE raised its fiscal 2027 Networking revenue growth outlook to a high-teens to low-20s percent range.
- HPE increased its Juniper cost-savings target to $800 million annually by the end of fiscal 2028, from at least $600 million.
Vultr orders HPE’s first Helios racks
Vultr is based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Bloomberg reported. HPE will deploy the racks in Vultr’s US data centres, according to the company’s announcement. The order covers systems built around AMD processors and accelerators together with HPE networking switches and software.
HPE said the order follows nearly three years of collaboration between Vultr and Juniper Networks, which is now part of HPE. The new systems put Juniper networking equipment inside the AMD-based racks. HPE said it and AMD would support Vultr’s effort to serve enterprise and service-provider demand for model training and inference at its AI data centres.
J.J. Kardwell, Vultr’s chief executive, said demand for AI infrastructure was exceeding available capacity. He described the work with AMD and HPE as a way to bring rack-scale computing and networking online for customers more quickly. His comments concerned the capacity Vultr plans to offer for training and inference workloads.
Antonio Neri, HPE’s president and chief executive, described the company’s contribution as spanning rack-scale computing, networking, direct liquid cooling and services. HPE said its services team would provide deployment and liquid-cooling expertise for large AI clusters.
Six Juniper switch trays per Helios rack
Each Helios rack integrates 72 AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs, AMD EPYC “Venice” CPUs and AMD Pensando Vulcano AI NICs, HPE said. The company also lists AMD ROCm software as part of the design. Six HPE Juniper Networking QFX5252 scale-up Ethernet switch trays are included in each rack to connect its 72 GPUs.
According to HPE, AMD designed Helios for trillion-parameter model training and high-volume inference. The architecture supports open, interoperable rack-scale fabrics such as UALink over Ethernet. HPE describes the Vultr order as a combination of its computing, cooling and rack engineering with Juniper networking technology.
The networking equipment is therefore part of every rack covered by the order, rather than a separate switch deployment described alongside it. HPE says the QFX5252 trays provide the scale-up connections among the AMD GPUs. Its announcement places deployment and liquid-cooling services alongside the hardware in the Helios offering.
HPE raises its fiscal 2027 Networking outlook
At a Networking Investor Day on 30 September, HPE raised its fiscal 2027 Networking revenue growth outlook to a high-teens to low-20s percent range, StreetInsider reported. HPE also forecast high-teens percent compound annual revenue growth for the segment from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2029. It set a mid-to-high 20s percent operating margin target for fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2029.
HPE projects Data Center Networking revenue growth at a low-to-high 50s percent compound annual rate through fiscal 2029. Its projection for Routing is a low-to-high 20s percent rate over the same period. For Campus & Branch and Security, HPE forecasts a high single-digit percent rate in each category.
The company expects to gain market share in Data Center Networking, Routing and Campus & Branch over the next three years, StreetInsider reported. HPE said its agreements to buy networking equipment in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 stood at twice the prior quarter’s level, citing expected customer needs and limited availability in fiscal 2027.
The Vultr order includes data-centre networking equipment, a category covered by HPE’s growth projections. Its broader Networking targets also cover routing, campus and branch products and security. HPE’s supply commitments concern anticipated demand across its networking business as it enters fiscal 2027.
StreetInsider reported that HPE raised its Juniper Networks savings goal from at least $600 million to an annualised $800 million by the end of fiscal 2028.
