IBM Pursues AI Expansion With $11B Confluent Acquisition

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IBM has AI on its mind with plans to acquire Confluent, the data-streaming firm built on Apache Kafka, in a deal valued at $11 billion.

The agreement, announced today (Dec. 8) will see IBM purchase all outstanding Confluent shares at $31 per share, bringing under its wing a platform used by thousands of organizations to move, process, and govern data in real time.

The move reflects a rapidly intensifying race among technology giants to strengthen the data foundations required for generative and agentic AI. With IDC projecting more than one billion new logical applications emerging by 2028, enterprises are facing enormous pressure to unify data scattered across hybrid environments. Real-time data availability is increasingly viewed as essential for ...