The UK’s competition watchdog is investigating the $14 billion acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) by Juniper Networks to determine if it will create competition issues. HPE announced its plan to purchase Juniper in January to enhance its artificial intelligence offerings. The acquisition is expected to double HPE’s networking business and utilize Juniper’s AI-powered enterprise network security and operations. The deal’s significant size is likely to attract regulatory scrutiny from various entities, including the European Commission and the United States Federal Trade Commission.
Regulatory scrutiny has previously halted major acquisitions, like Adobe’s failed bid for Figma in 2023 due to obstacles posed by UK and EU watchdogs. Emir Halilovic, research director at GlobalData, believes that this acquisition will enhance HPE’s presence in the telecommunications network equipment sector and transform Juniper into a technology provider for cloud service providers, telcos, and enterprises. Telcos may play a secondary role to HPE’s networking business in the future.
The AI market is rapidly evolving, with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 leading to increased spending across various industries to deploy AI capabilities. Companies are seeking to enhance their AI offerings, driving acquisitions like HPE’s purchase of Juniper Networks. The outcome of the UK’s investigation into the acquisition will shed light on the potential competition issues that may arise from this deal.
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https://www.verdict.co.uk/news/uk-watchdog-to-probe-hewlett-packard-enterprises-14bn-juniper-networks-acquisition/