HPE buys supercomputer firm Cray for $1.3bn
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has acquired US supercomputer manufacturer Cray in a huge takeover deal worth roughly $1.3bn (£1bn).
HPE said it has signed a deal to buy the Seattle-based firm for $35 per share in cash, a premium on its closing price yesterday of $29.81.
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“Cray is a global technology leader in supercomputing and shares our deep commitment to innovation,” said Antonio Neri, president and chief executive of HPE.
“By combining our world-class teams and technology, we will have the opportunity to drive the next generation of high performance computing and play an important part in advancing the way people live and work.”
HPE said the deal will create a combined company offering services across computing, storage, interconnection and software in the fast-growing high performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.
Cray, which is one of the world’s leading supercomputer companies, last week secured a $600m deal with the US energy department to develop the world’s fastest computer.
“This is an amazing opportunity to bring together Cray’s leading-edge technology and HPE’s wide reach and deep product portfolio, providing customers of all sizes with integrated solutions and unique supercomputing technology to address the full spectrum of their data-intensive needs,” said Peter Ungaro, president and chief executive of Cray.
“HPE and Cray share a commitment to customer-centric innovation and a vision to create the global leader for the future of high performance computing and AI.”
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The deal is HPE’s first acquisition worth $1bn since boss Neri took over from former chief executive Meg Whitman stepped down in February last year. But HPE has beefed up its software offering over the last six months with the acquisitions of Plexxi and Bluedata.
The merger is expected to complete by the first quarter of HPE’s 2020 financial year, subject to regulatory approval.