Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO expects no China challenge on $14 billion Juniper Networks deal

Tower Semiconductor

11/01/2024 01:45

By Stephen Nellis
       Jan 10 (Reuters) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise  HPE.N 
(HPE) Chief Executive Antonio Neri told Reuters he does not
foresee any major regulatory risks in China for his firm's $14
billion bid to acquire Juniper Networks  JNPR.N .
    HPE on Tuesday offered to buy the networking firm, which
makes custom networking chips and gear that can be used inside
data centers to power artificial intelligence. Neri said the
deal would bolster HPE's efforts to offer the firm's AI
computing products and services to businesses that are reluctant
to turn their data over to cloud computing companies.
    Neri said that the deal faces little regulatory risk in
China, whose antitrust officials who last year sank Intel's
 INTC.O  to acquire Israeli chip manufacturer Tower
Semiconductor  TSEM.TA . HPE last year moved to sell its stake
in China-based joint venture H3C, which Neri expects to generate
$3 billion in proceeds and leave HPE with little business in
China.
    Juniper does not disclose how much revenue it generates from
China, but Neri told Reuters the activity is small enough that
he expects no major challenges from Chinese regulators. 
    "Even if we have to go through the regulatory process, we
don't see a challenge, because their footprint in China is
extremely small," Neri said in an interview. "We believe we can
close this transaction nine to 12 months."

 (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco. Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
 ((Stephen.Nellis@thomsonreuters.com;))