THE AI VISIONARY

WITH FULL-STACK CAPABILITIES ACROSS MODELS, C. VIJAYAKUMAR AIMS TO CONSOLIDATE HCLTECH'S LEADERSHIP IN THE SPACE.

- BY RUKMINI RAO

IN JANUARY THIS YEAR, the Top 150 delivery and corporate function leaders of HCL Technologies Ltd gathered in Singapore for a three-day session to brainstorm the company's AI-first strategy, ranging from success stories to apprehensions to what it meant to think AI-first. The spotlight was on the mindset change needed to thrive in a future where IT services and consulting businesses would be ruled by a combination of people, AI, and intellectual properties.

CEO and managing director C. Vijayakumar, or C.V.K. as he is known in tech circles, has conducted seven such sessions across the globe with the company's go-to-market teams to ensure that company leaders proactively take HCLTech's AI offering to their clients rather than wait for clients to ask for it.

“I think it's coming together, but it's still early days,” C.V.K. says, with the caveat that they must keep at it for the next couple of years to strengthen HCLTech's leadership in AI. Announcing its results for Q2FY26, HCLTech had said it was generating over $100 million a quarter, or about 3% of its total annual revenue, from advanced AI. This includes revenue from technologies such as agentic AI, physical AI, AI engineering and AI Factory, but excludes classical AI, data and analytics services, and the services delivered using GenAI and agentic AI.

Citing the reason for revealing this portion of HCLTech's revenue now, C.V.K. says, “We've been tracking it internally and I felt more confident because there are many line items in these services, and, in each of them, we see there is a good tailwind, which gave us confidence that we've got the pieces in reasonable control.”

With AI revenue now being tracked publicly, he quips, “Anything that you measure automatically gets more attention and focus, right?”