HCLTech launches smaller AI-focused business centers on AWS, starting in Asia-Pacific

HCLTech launched an AI-powered business-center offering built on Amazon Web Services on October 28, 2026, with Asia-Pacific first in the rollout. Called a nano Global Capability Centre, or GCC, the offering is designed around small, product-focused teams that can begin with specific AI projects and grow gradually, rather than start with a broad operating mandate.

The launch puts an operating model alongside the technology. Part of HCLTech’s GCC 360 suite, it combines advisory services, the company’s AI platforms and AWS infrastructure. HCLTech describes the approach as a way to move AI experiments into business operations without committing immediately to the scale and scope associated with traditional GCCs.

Two routes into smaller operations

HCLTech is aiming the service at two different starting positions. One customer already has a capability center doing largely conventional work and wants to introduce AI without disrupting it. The other has no presence in the country and wants a smaller first step into both a new geography and AI operations.

• For established GCCs, the proposed structure is hub-and-spoke, anchored at HCLTech’s Lucknow campus. The company positions it as a vehicle for AI-led transformation alongside existing operations, rather than requiring those conventional activities to be disrupted as the new work begins.
• For mid-market enterprises without an in-country presence, the offer is a way to enter cautiously without committing to a large-scale setup. HCLTech says these customers can begin with a targeted scope, establish AI-focused operations and increase their commitment as they demonstrate value.

In both cases, HCLTech says the model is intended to shorten setup cycles and let customers expand progressively. Those are promised benefits of the design: the launch announcement does not quantify the time saved or provide a customer result measuring the advantage over a traditional setup.

The nano GCC model is at an inflection point. What began as a cost and talent strategy is becoming the primary engine for enterprise AI capability building. The question for most organizations is no longer whether to build AI-native operations, but how to do it without the drag of legacy setup models. The nano GCC is our answer to that urgency.

Kiran Cherukuri, Executive Vice President and Global GCC Practice Leader, HCLTech

HCLTech designs the model; AWS supplies the cloud

The division of responsibilities puts HCLTech in charge of operating-model design and implementation. Its contribution includes GCC advisory capabilities and AI platforms such as AI Force. AWS will provide joint go-to-market support as well as access to its cloud infrastructure and AI services, including Amazon Bedrock, Kiro and AWS Transform.

The service scope extends beyond building software. HCLTech lists engineering built around AI, autonomous IT operations, advanced data and analytics, and intelligent business operations. These are the areas the offering is intended to support; the launch is not confined to a single application or one department’s use case.

HCLTech also says responsible AI governance is built into the offering. That places governance within the proposed operating model, alongside the teams and AI-enabled workflows, rather than describing the service only as access to cloud tools.

Asia-Pacific first, with delivery from India

Asia-Pacific is the opening phase of what HCLTech describes as a broader global strategy. Delivery will come through its India-based organization, supported by the Center of Excellence in Lucknow. The arrangement gives the regional rollout an identified delivery base, with the Lucknow campus also serving as the anchor for established customers’ hub-and-spoke operations.