IBM is set to acquire Confluent for $11BN to enhance the generative and agentic deployment of AI agents.
The two companies confirmed the acquisition earlier this week, designed to improve data and communication transfers between ecosystems, providing enterprises with connected and trustworthy data.
This acquisition aims to enhance IBM’s current data capabilities, improving the way it approaches customer interaction management.
The Confluent Acquisition
IBM announced that the purpose of the acquisition will allow it to create a smart data platform for enterprise AI, supporting real-time data flow across hybrid environments as well as IBM’s existing products and data services.
The technology company further claims that demand for a platform like this will be high in the next few years, with IDC estimating that by 2028, more than one billion new logical applications will arrive.
This statistic highlights a future demand for platforms that can provide enterprises with secure and connected data access for the high volume of newly scattered applications and AI agents, all in real-time.
This will require end-to-end integration of an enterprise’s applications, analytics, data systems, and AI agents, to give this platform the best chance of delivering well-rounded results and resilience in hybrid environments.
To bring about this vision, the acquisition will allow IBM to access Confluent’s platform, Apache Kafka, and intelligence for real-time control over scattered and omnichannel data.
This platform will allow IBM to collect data in real-time, providing current patterns and context to enable AI agents to deliver faster, generated responses.
Confluent will also be able to eliminate any unnecessary silos and ensure data cleanliness and constant connectivity across systems when leveraging data.
Arvind Krishna, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer at IBM, explains how the acquisition will allow IBM to bring about its vision for extensive data connectivity.
He said: “IBM and Confluent together will enable enterprises to deploy generative and agentic AI better and faster by providing trusted communication and data flow between environments, applications and APIs.
“Data is spread across public and private clouds, datacenters and countless technology providers.
“With the acquisition of Confluent, IBM will provide the smart data platform for enterprise IT, purpose-built for AI.”
Who is Confluent?
Founded in 2014, the technology company provides data infrastructure services that set data in motion, allowing for the continuous movement of data to be streamed in real-time as activity occurs.
Confluent’s platform, Apache Kafka, is designed for open source, scalable data streaming, providing users with fast, reliable data accessibility.
The platform features several capabilities designed to improve data governance and processing, including Data Streaming, Stream Governance, Stream Processing, and Stream Agents.
Jay Kreps, CEO & Co-founder at Confluent, highlights how Confluent’s previous successes will help IBM develop its strategy to improve data capabilities.
“Since its founding, Confluent has helped organizations unlock the full potential of their data, driving innovation in an increasingly complex IT landscape,” he said.
“We are extremely proud of the work we’ve done in providing clients with a real-time data streaming platform for the next era of technology, including generative and agentic AI.
“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. I look forward to the future we will build together as Confluent becomes part of IBM.”
Enhancing IBM’s CX Offerings
By collecting data in real-time, IBM can track and view customer interactions as they occur.
This means that deployed AI agents can access interaction updates as they go, capturing live customer purchases and account updates to deliver customer-facing teams immediate context with accuracy.
And with scattered customer data, the Apache Kafka platform enables continuous data movement across external environments, allowing agents to access complete customer profiles mid-conversation and avoid repeating information.
This can be useful for customer-facing teams that use multiple CRM systems and conversation platforms, compiling all the relevant data into a single stream for faster customer resolutions and personalized results.
Furthermore, Confluent’s platform can detect negative activity, such as payment failures, and advise customers immediately with automated follow-up steps for proactive communication.
Kafka can also advise on high-peak activity periods, providing stable performance rates with automation and real-time information to reduce wait times and delays.
This acquisition will also allow IBM to build up its portfolio by including a market leader for real-time data streaming, boosting its ability to deliver effective CX and contact-center tools for speedier solutions.
The acquisition deal is expected to take effect by mid-2026, with IBM anticipating the smart platform will deliver strong financial benefits soon after, expecting to achieve free cash flow results by its second year.
