Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has officially closed its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks as of July 2, 2025, following a resolution of antitrust concerns with the U.S. Department of Justice, under which HPE agreed to divest its Instant On WLAN business and license Juniper’s Mist AI source code. The merger—first announced in January 2024 and previously held up by DOJ litigation—doubles HPE’s networking footprint, integrating Juniper’s AI‑native networking solutions to bolster its portfolio of cloud‑native, AI‑driven infrastructure. HPE CEO Antonio Neri framed the move as transformative, declaring, “Today begins a new era for HPE – we are now at the epicenter of the transformation of IT, where AI and networking are converging,” and emphasized that the combined capabilities would offer “a modern network architecture alternative and an even more differentiated and complete portfolio across hybrid cloud, AI, and networking,” accelerating the company’s profitable growth strategy. Former Juniper CEO Rami Rahim, now leading the merged networking division, echoed this momentum: “HPE and Juniper have a unique opportunity to disrupt the networking industry at the most important and relevant time … provide customers and partners with a secure network that is purpose-built with AI and for AI”.
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The acquisition positions HPE to rival industry giants like Cisco and Nvidia by leveraging Juniper’s established switch hardware, service provider and cloud relationships, and Mist AI operations. Regulatory approval, formalized through a consent decree requiring a public comment period, comes with a condition to license Mist AI’s source code to competitors—potentially tempering HPE’s long‑term competitive advantage. Still, investor reaction was overwhelmingly positive: HPE shares rose over 12 %, Juniper stock jumped approximately 8 %, reflecting strong market confidence in the deal’s strategic rationale. With this acquisition, HPE gains a full networking IP stack—spanning silicon, hardware, operating systems, security, and management—in support of hybrid cloud and AI deployment, marking a pivotal shift toward higher‑growth, higher‑margin enterprise offerings and reinforcing its long‑term roadmap for profitable expansion
