Why IBM’s Confluent acquisition will give it a ‘competitive edge’ and supercharge its AI credentials

(Image credit: ITPro/Ross Kelly)

IBM has announced plans to acquire Confluent in an $11 billion deal analysts said will rapidly accelerate the cloud giant’s AI data streaming capabilities.

In a statement confirming the acquisition, IBM described Confluent as a “natural fit” for its hybrid cloud and AI strategy, enabling “end-to-end integration of applications, analytics, data systems and AI agents”.

Confluent is an open source data streaming platform, based on Kafka, providing real-time data flows for applications, analytics tools, and AI. The logic behind the acquisition, according to IBM, lies in surging demand for real-time, high quality data required to underpin AI models and agents.

Analysis from IDC, for example, predicts that by 2028, global data volumes will more than double, with upwards of one billion new applications set to emerge. With this comes the need for seamless data streaming capabilities, the company noted.

Confluent acquisition “strategically significant”

Forrester VP principal analyst Noel Yuhanna described the Confluent deal as a “strategically significant acquisition” for IBM – and one that will supercharge the cloud giant’s AI strategy.

“Real-time data is becoming critical for all applications, analytics, and AI,” he said.

“IBM’s purchase of Confluent brings industry-leading, Kafka-based data streaming directly into its hybrid-cloud and AI strategy, giving enterprises the ‘data-in-motion’ backbone required for modern enterprises that need continuously updated data to support AI workloads.”

IBM previously supported streaming through its Event Streams and IBM MQ platforms, Yuhanna noted. But with Confluent the tech giant now has a “unified, enterprise-grade data platform” that boasts real-time capabilities spanning both hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

“The acquisition positions IBM to simplify customer architectures through a real-time data fabric, tighten the integration between batch and streaming data, and power advanced AI systems with fresher, cleaner, and continuously flowing data,” he said.

Long-term, Yuhanna expects the deal to give IBM a “meaningful competitive edge” as demand for data streaming continues to surge.

Analysis from Verified Market Research in October 2025 found the data streaming market is projected to surge in value between 2024 and 2031, recording a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.56%.

This market was valued at $30.12 billion in 2024, the study noted, and is expected to reach $252 billion by the end of the forecast period. Confluent has rode the wave of growth in this sector in recent years.

Between 2021 and 2025, the company’s total addressable market (TAM) has doubled, from $50 billion to around $100 billion.

Jay Kreps, CEO and co-founder at Confluent, said he welcomed the next stage of the company’s journey under the IBM umbrella.

“We are excited by the potential to join IBM and to accelerate our strategy with IBM’s go-to-market expertise, global scale and extensive portfolio,” he said. “I look forward to the future we will build together as Confluent becomes part of IBM.”

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Ross Kelly is ITPro's News & Analysis Editor, responsible for leading the brand's news output and in-depth reporting on the latest stories from across the business technology landscape. Ross was previously a Staff Writer, during which time he developed a keen interest in cyber security, business leadership, and emerging technologies.

He graduated from Edinburgh Napier University in 2016 with a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and joined ITPro in 2022 after four years working in technology conference research.

For news pitches, you can contact Ross at ross.kelly@futurenet.com, or on Twitter and LinkedIn.