Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) is reportedly in discussions to acquire Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR), the network hardware company, in a deal estimated at around US$13 billion, according to Reuters.
The potential deal could be announced as early as this week, the report said.
Following this news, Hewlett Packard's shares dropped by almost 8%, while Juniper witnessed a surge of over 20% in extended trading.
The acquisition is anticipated to enhance the almost 100-year-old company's artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Hewlett Packard and Juniper Networks both declined to comment.
The move helps support Hewlett Packard's previous announcement of launching a cloud computing service tailored for powering AI systems.
Juniper Networks is recognised for its high-performance network and service offerings, encompassing routing, switching, Wi-Fi, network security, AI-enabled enterprise networking operations (AIOps) and software-defined networking (SDN) technologies.