Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks’ $14 billion merger settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, resolving the latest challenge surrounding the transaction.
U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts approved the settlement on August 13, 2026, finding that the amended proposed final judgment met the public-interest standard. The decision followed objections from state attorneys general who had challenged the legitimacy of the agreement between HPE and the DOJ.
The 41-page ruling acknowledged the states’ role in bringing greater transparency to the settlement process, but Pitts found they had not shown that the amended judgment was against the public interest. The court also said their involvement in the Tunney Act proceedings exposed more detail about how DOJ officials handled enforcement decisions and settlement negotiations.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta opposed the settlement alongside a coalition of 13 attorneys general. Bonta said the settlement had not been reached through a routine process, characterised the agreement as limited and argued that it left the public without remedies. In October 2025, he had asked the court to allow California and other states to participate directly in the proceedings.
The dispute followed an extended regulatory process around HPE’s acquisition of Juniper Networks, originally announced on January 9, 2024. The transaction underwent regulatory reviews in the UK, EU and US, with the DOJ becoming the final hurdle after initially suing to block the deal.
The DOJ said reduced competition in the wireless market was its principal concern. It identified HPE and Juniper as the second- and third-largest providers, respectively, of enterprise-grade WLAN solutions in the U.S.
Those issues were ultimately settled in June 2025, after which HPE moved ahead with the integration of Juniper’s networking technology. The company has since announced HPE Juniper Networking QFX switches aimed at inferencing and scale-up architecture, expanded the integration of Juniper Networking data centre switching and operations into its Mist AI engine, and launched a unified AI-native SASE platform.
HPE welcomed the court’s latest approval, maintaining that the settlement was in the public interest and pointing to innovation already being delivered through the combined organisation.
The ruling records disagreement within the DOJ over the settlement. The court said DOJ leadership overrode the views of Antitrust Division staff and considered alternative settlement proposals before rejecting them. Allegations about lobbying and the way the agreement was reached remain unproven.
The court approval leaves the DOJ settlement in place as HPE continues integrating Juniper’s networking technology across switching, Mist AI and its AI-native SASE platform.
