HP Labs is the exploratory and advanced research group for HP Inc. HP Labs' headquarters is in Palo Alto, California and the group has research and development facilities in Bristol, UK. The development of programmable desktop calculators, inkjet printing, and 3D graphics are credited to HP Labs researchers. HP Labs was established on March 3, 1966, by founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard, seeking to create an organization not bound by day-to-day business concerns. HP Labs was created with the help of former Bell Labs engineer and MOSFET inventor Mohamed Atalla, who later left in 1972. The labs have downsized dramatically; in August 2007, HP executives drastically diminished the number of projects, down from 150 to 30. As of 2018, HP Labs has just over 200 researchers, compared to earlier staffing levels of 500 researchers. With the Hewlett Packard Enterprise being spun off from Hewlett-Packard in November 1, 2015 and renamed to and HP Inc., the research lab also spun off Hewlett Packard Labs to Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Labs was kept for HP Inc.
Research areas
As the Semiconductor Lab's first manager, Mohamed Atalla launched a material science investigation program that provided a base technology for gallium arsenide, gallium arsenide phosphide and indium arsenide devices. These devices became the core technology used by HP's Microwave Division to develop sweepers and network analyzers that pushed 2040 GHz frequency, giving HP more than 90% of the military communications market by the 1970s. HP Labs was involved in HP's research and development on practical light-emitting diodes between 1966 and 1969. The first practical LED displays were built at Atalla's Semiconductor Lab. HP introduced the first commercial LED display in 1968. In February 1969, they introduced the HP Model 5082-7000 Numeric Indicator. It was the first intelligent LED display, and was a revolution in digital display technology, replacing the Nixie tube and becoming the basis for later LED displays. In 1977, HP Labs fabricated prototypes of the DMOS, a type of power MOSFET. They demonstrated that it was superior to the VMOS with its lower on-resistance and higher breakdown voltage. The DMOS became the most common power transistor used in power electronics. Today, HP Labs specializes in products and solutions related to laptops and tablets, desktop computers, printers, ink and toner cartridges, display accessories and business solutions.
3D printing
HP Labs has made a substantial investment in the development of HP MultiJet Fusion technology.
Directors
The following have served as Director of HP Labs since its foundation in 1966.
