May 1 (Reuters) - Juniper Networks ( JNPR ) reported an

11% rise in first-quarter revenue on Thursday, driven by steady

demand from cloud customers for its networking equipment, fueled

by the artificial intelligence boom.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company posted revenue of

$1.28 billion for the quarter ended March 31, in line with

analyst forecasts, according to LSEG data. On an adjusted basis,

Juniper earned 43 cents per share, also in line with estimates.

Companies are investing heavily in upgrading their

networking infrastructure to provide advanced services and cater

to a growing number of customers, benefiting the likes of

Juniper and Cisco Systems ( CSCO ).

In addition to cloud customers, demand is being

"complemented by accelerated enterprise momentum, where we

experienced healthy order growth across both campus and data

center use cases," said CEO Rami Rahim.

"While the tariff environment remains dynamic, we are taking

actions which we expect will help mitigate the potential impact

of tariffs over time," CFO Ken Miller said.

Juniper is in the process of being acquired by Hewlett

Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) for $14 billion in cash, but the U.S.

Department of Justice has sued to block the deal, arguing the

deal would reduce competition, raise prices and reduce

innovation.

In February, Juniper denied the allegations, saying that the

complaint does not correctly represent the market dynamics for

wireless network solutions.