Actually this is not as far fetched as it may seem. Here's a potential scenario, building on the above, HP may have entered into contracts with manufacturers fo

Actually this is not as far fetched as it may seem. Here's a potential scenario, building on the above, HP may have entered into contracts with manufacturers for 'n' units. When they shut it down, they had only received 'm' units, where m < n. So, they would have had to cancel contracts and pay a penalty. Here, they see a rather unusual demand and must have made some calculation that making the original 'n' units and earning good will by doing that, per the original contracts is better (even at a loss) than breaking contract and paying the penalty at a loss of goodwill.