IBM, with a 114-year history, has decided to acquire Confluent, an AI data infrastructure company, for approximately 16 trillion Korean won. This move reflects traditional tech companies restructuring their businesses by integrating AI and pursuing large-scale mergers and acquisitions.
IBM announced on the 8th, local time, that it will acquire Confluent for US$11 billion. The acquisition price per share is US$31, representing a 34% premium over Confluent’s stock price. Confluent’s market capitalization is around US$8 billion. Based in Silicon Valley, California, Confluent provides technology for managing vast real-time data flows required for AI models. This technology has recently gained attention across industries such as retail, technology, and financial services amid the AI boom.
IBM’s acquisition of the company is part of its recent efforts to overhaul its business around AI. This deal is the largest acquisition IBM has made in recent years. Last year, it acquired HashiCorp, a cloud software company, for US$6.4 billion.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Arvind Krishna of IBM stated, “Together with Confluent, IBM will support companies in deploying generative AI and agent AI more quickly and effectively.” The transaction is expected to be finalized in the first half of next year.
