Juniper Networks & Liquid Cooling: How the $14B HPE Deal Shapes AI Data Center Strategy in 2025

Industry Adoption: Juniper Networks’ Pivot from Cooling Collaborator to Integrated AI Infrastructure Leader

Between 2021 and 2024, Juniper Networks approached the burgeoning need for data center liquid cooling through strategic, targeted collaborations. The company, a traditional networking leader, recognized the thermal limitations of air cooling in the face of dense AI workloads but lacked proprietary cooling hardware. Its primary strategy was to validate its high-performance networking equipment, like the QFX Series switches, within third-party cooling systems. The most significant public initiative from this period was the September 2023 pilot with BT Group and Iceotope, an industry-first trial to test precision liquid-cooled network switches. This project signaled an exploratory phase, focused on proving feasibility and quantifying energy savings, with the goal of achieving a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.10. This collaborative model positioned Juniper as a critical component provider rather than an end-to-end solution owner. The inflection point arrived in January 2024 with the announcement of its acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for approximately $14 billion, a move that foreshadowed a dramatic strategic shift.

From 2025 to today, Juniper’s strategy has transformed from cautious exploration to aggressive market integration. The completion of the HPE acquisition on July 2, 2025, fundamentally repositioned the company. Now operating under the HPE Networking banner, Juniper has direct access to HPE’s mature, market-leading direct liquid cooling (DLC) intellectual property. This synergy immediately elevated its role from a component partner to an integral part of a full-stack “AI factory” solution provider. This new strategy is evident in its commercial activities. The May 2025 partnership with Engineered Fluids and Iceotope on immersion cooling demonstrates an expansion of its thermal management offerings beyond just DLC. More importantly, large-scale commercial deployments are replacing pilots. The August 2025 project with KDDI in Japan will leverage HPE’s DLC to support a massive NVIDIA Blackwell-based AI data center, with Juniper’s networking as the fabric. This rapid transition from pilots in the UK to major commercial projects in Asia underscores a new era of scaled, integrated deployments, creating a formidable threat to competitors like Arista and Cisco who are also vying for dominance in the liquid-cooled AI networking space.

Table: Juniper Networks’ Key Strategic Investments in AI and Data Center Infrastructure

Table: Juniper Networks’ Strategic Partnerships in Liquid Cooling and AI Data Centers

Geography of Juniper Networks’ Data Center and Cooling Initiatives

Between 2021 and 2024, Juniper’s geographic focus for advanced data center solutions was concentrated in Europe. The flagship liquid cooling initiative, the trial with BT Group and Iceotope, was based at BT’s Adastral Park research facility in the United Kingdom. This choice highlights a strategy of using the mature and technically advanced European telecom market as a validation ground for emerging, sustainable technologies. Further activity in the region is evidenced by projects with DNA Plc in Finland and Greenergy in Estonia, reinforcing a presence in the Nordics, a region renowned for its focus on data center efficiency and green energy. This European-centric approach was characteristic of a company testing new concepts in favorable, high-profile markets.

The period from 2025 to the present marks a significant global expansion, driven by the HPE acquisition and the urgent need for AI infrastructure worldwide. The most prominent new project is the collaboration with telecommunications operator KDDI in Japan, announced in August 2025. This large-scale commercial deployment to build out AI data center operations by early 2026 signifies a major push into the critical Asian market. Simultaneously, activity is scaling in North America. The November 2025 announcement of Element Critical’s 10MW expansion of its Houston, USA, data center specifically for AI-heavy workloads, which require high-performance networking like Juniper’s, shows that the strategy is actively targeting the US market. The pivot is clear: from targeted European pilots to large-scale, commercially driven projects across the world’s largest technology markets in Asia and North America, leveraging HPE’s global footprint.

Technology Maturity of Juniper Networks’ Liquid Cooling Solutions

From 2021 to 2024, Juniper’s engagement with liquid cooling technology was firmly in the pilot and validation stage. The company did not have its own liquid cooling products. Instead, it pursued a collaborative integration model. The BT and Iceotope trial is the definitive example of this phase. In this pilot, standard, commercially available Juniper QFX series switches were placed into Iceotope’s specialized precision liquid cooling chassis. The primary goal was not to sell a new product but to gather data and prove the concept—to quantify the PUE reduction, energy savings, and operational reliability of running high-performance networking gear in a liquid-cooled environment. This approach was low-risk and capital-light, allowing Juniper to validate its hardware’s compatibility with next-generation thermal management systems without investing in developing its own.

Beginning in 2025, the technology strategy has rapidly matured to the commercial integration and scaling stage. The catalyst for this shift is the integration with HPE, which brought a portfolio of mature, market-proven Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) solutions in-house. The focus is no longer on simply validating a switch inside a cooling unit; it is now about delivering a pre-integrated, full-stack “AI factory” that combines HPE servers, storage, and DLC with Juniper’s networking fabric. The launch of the “HPE Juniper Networking portfolio for AI Data Centers” in October 2025 is the commercial manifestation of this new, holistic approach. Furthermore, the partnership with Engineered Fluids and Iceotope on immersion cooling shows a strategic decision to support multiple liquid cooling modalities. Projects like the one with KDDI represent a move from small-scale pilots to massive commercial deployments, marking the transition of liquid-cooled networking from a niche experiment to a core part of the company’s scalable, mainstream offerings.

Table: SWOT Analysis of Juniper Networks in Data Center Liquid Cooling

Forward-Looking Insights and Summary

The data from 2025 signals that Juniper Networks, now a core part of HPE, is entering a critical year of integration and aggressive market execution. The strategic pivot from a collaborative component supplier to an integrated, full-stack AI infrastructure provider is complete in principle, and the focus now shifts to capitalizing on this new identity. Market actors should expect the announcement of the first co-engineered, liquid-cooled networking products from the HPE Networking division at major industry events in late 2025 or early 2026. These products will be the first tangible proof of the acquisition’s technological synergy.

Three key signals will define the year ahead. First, watch for financial disclosures on cost savings and revenue growth from the integration; HPE has already raised its savings targets, and delivering on these will be crucial for investor confidence. Second, monitor market share reports for data center switching. The battle with Arista and Cisco in the AI networking space will intensify, and these reports will provide the clearest verdict on whether HPE’s integrated strategy is successfully winning customers. Finally, look for targeted product launches aimed at the Edge Data Center market. As this segment is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2030, leveraging the combined entity’s thermally efficient, compact solutions for edge deployments is a logical and lucrative next step. The era of standalone networking is over for Juniper; its future is now inextricably tied to its ability to deliver a seamless, cooled, and complete compute ecosystem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was Juniper Networks’ strategy for data center liquid cooling before being acquired by HPE?
Before the acquisition, Juniper’s strategy was based on collaboration. It partnered with companies like Iceotope and BT Group to test and validate its networking hardware (e.g., QFX Series switches) within third-party liquid cooling systems. This positioned Juniper as a critical component supplier rather than an end-to-end solution provider, focusing on proving feasibility and energy savings in pilot projects.

How did the $14 billion acquisition by HPE change Juniper’s role in the AI data center market?
The acquisition fundamentally repositioned Juniper from a component supplier to an integrated, full-stack solution provider. By becoming part of HPE Networking, Juniper gained direct access to HPE’s mature direct liquid cooling (DLC) technology, allowing it to offer a complete “AI factory” solution that combines networking, servers, storage, and cooling, thus becoming a more formidable competitor.

Who are the main competitors Juniper faces in the liquid-cooled networking space?
The article identifies Arista Networks and Cisco as the primary competitors. The threat has evolved from a general risk into a direct, head-to-head battle with these rivals, as they are also developing their own liquid-cooled switches and integrated solutions to capture the rapidly growing AI data center market.

Does the new HPE-Juniper entity only offer one type of liquid cooling technology?
No, they support multiple liquid cooling methods. While the acquisition provides strong in-house Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) solutions from HPE’s portfolio, a May 2025 partnership with Engineered Fluids and Iceotope shows a commitment to also developing and supporting advanced immersion cooling. This indicates a broader strategy to offer a range of thermal management options.

What has been the geographic shift in Juniper’s data center cooling initiatives?
Initially, from 2021 to 2024, Juniper’s initiatives were concentrated in Europe, with pilot projects in the UK, Finland, and Estonia. Since the HPE acquisition in 2025, the focus has expanded globally to large-scale commercial deployments in major technology markets, including a significant project with KDDI in Japan (Asia) and supporting AI expansions in Houston, USA (North America).