IBM preparing for a massive $11 billion acquisition of Confluent to boost cloud efforts

IBM is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire the data infrastructure company Confluent. The acquisition value is reported to be $11 billion and will help the big tech stalwart, IBM, boost its cloud services push. As a bit of background, Confluent is an open-source platform that is used to process massive streams of real-time data, such as bank transactions and website clicks.

The acquisition is expected to help IBM capture growing demand for cloud services and capitalize on a surge in demand for data infrastructure, which is being fueled by the generative artificial intelligence race gripping companies such as Microsoft.

According to Reuters, IBM, under CEO Arvind Krishna, has been focused on software performance, which is needed to maintain its growth momentum after the company experienced slower growth in its core cloud software business. This $11 billion is bigger than the company's acquisition of HashiCorp earlier this year, which cost it $6.4 billion.

IBM is not the only company seeking to acquire data infrastructure companies; it is actually part of a trend. Salesforce, for example, in May, acquired Informatica for around $8 billion.

The IBM acquisition news was originally reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources. It reported that the acquisition news could be officially announced as soon as Monday, December 8. Only time will tell.

According to Reuters, Confluent has been weighing a potential sale since October and has been working with an investment bank to manage the process of finding potential buyers. It has a market cap of $8.09 billion, and IBM is valued at $287.84 billion. The same month, IBM raised concerns among investors when its core cloud software business saw slow growth. If it buys Confluent, it might be able to get back up to speed.

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Posted Monday 8 December 2025 at 5:20 pm AEST (my time).

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