Chipmaker Nvidia is acquiring Mellanox, an Israeli supplier of computer networking products using InfiniBand and Ethernet technology, for approximately $6.9 billion.

The transaction has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors and is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the companies said in a statement.

Mellanox and Nvidia have a history of collaboration and joint innovation, including building the supercomputers, Sierra and Summit, operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Several cloud service providers also use both Nvidua GPUs and Mellanox interconnects.

Once the combination is complete, Nvidia says it intends to continue investing in Israel.

Customer sales and support will not change as a result of this transaction, say the companies.

Goldman Sachs served as exclusive financial advisor to Nvidia and Jones Day served as legal advisor. Credit Suisse Group and J.P. Morgan Chase served as financial advisors to Mellanox, and Latham & Watkins and Herzog Fox & Neeman served as legal advisors.

[Image courtesy: Nvidia]