HP was the world's leading PC manufacturer from 2007 until the second quarter of 2013, when Lenovo moved ahead of HP. The company grew into a multinational corporation widely respected for its products. The company won its first big contract in 1938 to provide test and measurement instruments for Walt Disney's production of the animated film Fantasia, which allowed Hewlett and Packard to formally establish the Hewlett-Packard Company on July 2, 1939. The HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue is now designated an official California Historical Landmark, and is marked with a plaque calling it the 'Birthplace of ' Silicon Valley''. The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, and initially produced a line of electronic test and measurement equipment. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components, as well as software and related services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses ( SMBs), and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors. The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( / ˈ h juː l ɪ t ˈ p æ k ər d/ HEW-lit PAK-ərd) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
