HP buys Samsung's printer business for $1.4 billion

HP Inc will buy Samsung's printer business in a deal valued at US$1.05 billion (A$1.4 billion) after the smartphone giant spins off the business in early November.

Samsung's printer business employs around 6000 people across 50 sales offices globally, and brought in 2 trillion Korean won (A$2.4 billion) in revenue last year. Its production facilities are located in China.

HP will buy a 100 percent stake in the spun-out business, which will also give it 6500 printing patents.

It said the acquisition would give it a leg-up into the copier market, which HP said was worth US$55 billion despite not having "innovated in decades".

The company plans to "disrupt" the market by replacing copiers in enterprises with multifunction printers.

Samsung said it would continue to sell printers in Korea under the original Samsung branding, but they would now be sourced from HP.

"When we became a separate company just 10 months ago, it enabled us to become nimble and focus on accelerating growth and reinventing industries," HP CEO Dion Weisler said in a statement.

"We are doing this with 3D printing and the disruption of the US$12 trillion traditional manufacturing industry, and now we are going after the US$55 billion copier space.

"The acquisition of Samsung's printer business allows us to deliver print innovation and create entirely new business opportunities with far better efficiency, security, and economics for customers," he said.