IBM has completed its acquisition of Confluent, strengthening its push to make real-time data the backbone of enterprise AI and automated systems. Confluent’s data streaming platform is used by more than 6,500 enterprises, including 40% of the Fortune 500.
The deal brings together IBM’s enterprise capabilities with Confluent’s real-time data streaming technology to create a unified platform. This platform is designed to deliver clean, governed, and continuously updated data to AI models, agents, and workflows across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.
As companies move from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment, data has emerged as a key challenge. In many organisations, data remains fragmented and delayed. The combined offering from IBM and Confluent aims to address this by enabling continuous data flow, ensuring AI systems can act on real-time information.
“Transactions happen in milliseconds, and AI decisions need to happen just as fast. With Confluent, we are giving clients the ability to move trusted data continuously across their entire operation so their AI models and agents can act on what is happening right now, not on data that is hours old” said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Software and Chief Commercial Officer. “Together, IBM and Confluent give enterprises the foundation for a new operating model – one where AI runs on live data, drives decisions in real time, and delivers value at scale.”
Confluent’s platform, built on Apache Kafka, is already widely used across industries including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.
Several global companies use Confluent for real-time operations. Michelin manages inventory across 170 countries and reports 35% cost savings. L’Oréal streams real-time product and inventory data to respond faster to demand. BMW Group connects IoT data from over 30 production sites globally, while Ticketmaster streams ticketing and customer activity across multiple systems.
“Since our founding, Confluent’s mission has been to set the world’s data in motion, making data streaming as foundational to the enterprise as the database. Joining IBM allows us to accelerate that mission at a much greater scale,” said Jay Kreps, CEO and Co-founder of Confluent. “IBM’s global reach and deep enterprise relationships will help us go further, faster. As enterprises move from experimenting with AI to running their business on it, helping data flow continuously across the business has never mattered more. I’m excited to see what we’ll build together.”
The acquisition enables deeper integration across IBM’s portfolio. Confluent will stream real-time data into watsonx.data, support event-driven automation across hybrid environments, and enhance capabilities of IBM Z systems for real-time analytics and AI workflows.
An industry analyst noted that enterprises increasingly need trusted, real-time data rather than historical datasets, highlighting the importance of platforms that combine data governance with continuous data flow.
Under the deal, IBM acquired all outstanding shares of Confluent at $31 per share in cash, valuing the company at approximately $11 billion.
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