The EU is expected to approve HP Inc.'s (HPE.US) $14bn acquisition of Juniper Networks unconditionally.

People familiar with the matter said the $14bn deal to buy Juniper Networks, a maker of networking equipment, from HPE (HPE.US) is expected to win unconditional antitrust clearance from the EU.

The European Commission is due to decide on the deal by August 1st.

HPE announced the deal in January, highlighting the urgency of companies to upgrade and develop new products as services driven by artificial intelligence grow rapidly.

HPE has focused on expanding profitable lines of business such as high-end computing and cloud services since it split from HP in 2015. But in recent years, the company has struggled to grow more than about 2 per cent.

HPE reported lower-than-expected revenue in November after a sharp drop in server sales.

Juniper Networks and its larger rival Cisco (CSCO.US) both make routers and switches and other networking equipment. “The merger of HPE and Juniper will disrupt the entire industry because there has only been one large supplier, Cisco, and today we are actually creating a second choice, a more modern choice, which is what the customer is ultimately looking for,” said HPE chief executive Meg Whitman.