Hewlett Packard Enterprise to buy Juniper for $14bn

NEW YORK: US IT firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise will acquire telecoms equipment specialist Juniper Networks for $14 billion, the two firms announced Tuesday, in a bid to accelerate HPE’s adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Focused on cloud computing, data analytics and cybersecurity, HPE will get its hands on a major IT infrastructure player in this all-cash acquisition.

“The explosion of AI and hybrid cloud-driven business is accelerating demand for secure, unified technology solutions that connect, protect, and analyze companies’ data from edge to cloud,” the two companies wrote in a joint statement.

The advent of so-called generative AI, marked by the launch of OpenAI in November 2022, has increased the needs of many businesses for IT architecture and capacity, as the still-novel technology requires considerable computing power.

“This transaction will strengthen HPE’s position at the nexus of accelerating macro-AI trends, expand our total addressable market, and drive further innovation,” HPE CEO Antonio Neri said, according to the statement.

HPE was formed in 2015 from the demerger of the historic Hewlett-Packard group, which was undergoing a major restructuring at the time.

At the time, the company put its infrastructure, software and enterprise services divisions into HPE, and its personal computers and printers teams at HP.

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HPE expects to complete the acquisition of Juniper in late 2024 or early 2025.

HPE expects cost savings of up to $450 million per year within three years of the acquisition.

The price offered by HPE includes a 32 percent premium on Juniper’s closing price on Monday, before the first news reports of a possible merger were published.