H.P. to Report an Advance in Adaptable Circuitry
Hewlett-Packard researchers have developed a novel way to create flexible electronic circuits that could make it routine by the end of the decade to modify and upgrade the circuitry in computer-based consumer products even after they have been sold.
Context & Ripple Effects
Hewlett-Packard's circuitry research follows coverage of efforts to make computers physically rollable, extending the flexible-electronics idea from device form to the circuit's useful life. Its significance is the prospect that a consumer product's hardware need not remain fixed at the point of sale.
The development also gives H.P., which has been pursuing growth beyond PCs and printers, a research-led way to differentiate the products built around its core hardware businesses.
First-order effects
- Hewlett-Packard gains a route to flexible circuits that product makers could modify or upgrade after sale, rather than treating the original circuitry as permanent.
- Buyers of computer-based consumer products are the intended beneficiaries: upgrades could be made to circuitry already inside the products they own.
Second-order effects
- Consumer-electronics makers using fixed circuit designs face pressure to evaluate whether post-sale adaptability can extend a product's usefulness and change the value of a hardware refresh.
- Component and product designers would need to treat upgradeability as a design requirement, not solely as a feature of the next device generation.
Third-order effects
- If adaptable circuitry becomes practical at scale, consumer hardware could shift from fixed configurations toward products whose electronic function can be revised over their lifetimes.
- The competitive advantage would move beyond the initial device design toward systems engineered to accommodate later circuit changes.
The trend: Flexible electronics is broadening from new physical form factors to hardware designed for post-sale adaptation.