

Mint Explainer | Can IBM reboot its AI play with $11 billion Confluent buyout?
IBM closed the buyout of Confluent, a US-based data streaming company. At $11 billion, this is IBM’s second-largest acquisition in recent years, after the Red Hat buyout in 2019 for $34 billion. The deal is expected to help IBM boost Agentic AI capabilities.As companies shift from AI pilots to production, they struggle with fragmented data.
Confluent’s streaming technology, built on Apache Kafka can handle constant data flows from different sources and apps like at airports. It can organize data on flight schedules, travellers, security, baggage, etc, enabling continuous data flow across hybrid environments. Confluent's technology will become the backbone of IBM’s platform for helping clients access their data for various AI use cases.US-based Confluent helps companies manage and streamline their data.
Founded in 2014, Confluent provides a data-in-motion platform that lets organizations stream, connect, process, and govern data in real time. Its products—Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform—act like a central nervous system for enterprises, enabling applications to react to events such as transactions, supply chain updates or fraud alerts.Confluent has over 6,000 customers (around 40% are Fortune 500 companies) which modernize operations by ensuring data is continuously flowing and ready for AI-driven decision-making. Some of its customers in India include Meesho, Swiggy, Mobile Premier League, Jio Platforms, BFSI companies and others.Yes.
This acquisition is part of IBM’s effort to reassert its leadership in AI. Technology vendors are increasingly selling tools to help their customers use, manage and create AI agents. For IBM, Confluent’s technology will become the backbone of its platforms for helping business
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