The big picture: Cray employs around 1,300 people around the globe. HPE's acquisition will likely result in some redundancies and thus, job losses, although those weren't mentioned in today's announcement. More information will likely come out during HPE's Q2 earnings call on May 23.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) on Friday agreed to purchase supercomputer maker Cray for $1.3 billion. HPE is paying $35 per share for the opportunity, a $5.19 premium over Cray's closing price of $29.81 on Thursday.

HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri said the answers to some of society's most pressing challenges are buried in massive amounts of data. "Only by processing and analyzing this data will we be able to unlock the answers to critical challenges across medicine, climate change, space and more," Neri added.

Indeed, HPE said the acquisition will accelerate its strategy to tackle customers' most data-intensive challenges by combining deep supercomputing talent and cutting-edge technologies. Specifically, the company believes it'll provide them with a larger footprint in federal business and academia and create new offerings in artificial intelligence / machine learning and HPC-as-a-service through HPE GreenLake.

Cray got its start in 1972 when Seymour Cray left Control Data Corporation to start his own company. Their first product, the Cray-1 supercomputer, was an instant success, paving the way for Cray to become a major player in the supercomputer industry over the next several decades.

HPE said it expects the transaction to close by the first quarter of its 2020 fiscal year, pending customary regulatory approval.