(Optional) Apply new SPP to the ServerProfile (e.g. In the case, you use the Offline Update your process will look like this: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) Firmware & Driver Addon. OS integrated via Smart Update Tools (available for most common OSes). 
Offline Update (OS is shut down and SPP ISO is mounted). HPE servers do not have an Out-Of-Band upgrade interface for firmware like the current DELL servers. Let’s have a look at the possible upgrade processes for the HPE firmware. However, the big challenge is to upgrade from an older version to this combination, in terms of drivers and firmware. So, in the case, you have installed your VMware ESXi with the HPE Custom Image for VMware vSphere 7.0 U3 (Oct 26 2021) and applied the SPP 2021.10.0 to your server hardware you are fine. This document includes a matrix for the recommended combinations of Driver Addon and Firmware Package, called SPP or VUP for the vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) Firmware Addon. HPE maintains a great document called “ Current SPP HPE Custom Image vibsdepot SPP Mapping for Gen9 and later“. HPE Driver, Firmware and ESXi Build Mapping Hypervisors like VMware ESXi operate very close to hardware functions and depend on optimal setup and perfect interoperability. Why is the driver, firmware, and ESXi build mapping important? But also performance optimizations and new features are not uncommon. 
Just like other software updates, this prevents stability problems and security issues.
Why are firmware updates an important task? Just to make sure, HPE, Fujitsu, DELL, and other server vendors do have similar challenges (even if there are differences in detail) but I have the most experience with the HPE Proliant series. The struggle of manually matching and updating the firmware and drivers for VMware ESXi made me write the blog post series HPE Firmware Management for VMware ESXi. That’s one of the reasons why All-In-One solutions like Dell EMC VxRail for VMware vSAN are very popular in large enterprises. In most of the VMware vSphere Environments (and even more with vSAN) the firmware and driver management is a critical and at the same level annoying task.
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