IBM to Enhance Watsonx Portfolio Through DataStax Acquisition

• By John K. Waters
• 02/28/25

IBM has announced it will acquire AI and data solutions provider DataStax, in a move aimed at enhancing its watsonx portfolio and advancing generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for enterprises. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.

The acquisition will integrate DataStax's vector database and AI-driven data management capabilities into IBM's expanding AI ecosystem, addressing the challenge enterprises face in unlocking value from vast amounts of unstructured data.

"Businesses cannot realize the full potential of generative AI without the right infrastructure — open source tools and technologies that empower developers, harness unstructured data, and provide a strong foundation for AI applications," said Dinesh Nirmal, senior vice president of IBM Software, in a statement. "DataStax possesses deep competency in this area and shares IBM's relentless commitment to simplifying and scaling generative AI for the enterprise."

DataStax is known for AstraDB and DataStax Enterprise, its NoSQL and vector database solutions built on Apache Cassandra, as well as Langflow, an open source tool for low-code AI application development. IBM said it plans to continue supporting and developing Apache Cassandra, Langflow, and other open source initiatives such as Apache Pulsar and OpenSearch, reinforcing its commitment to open AI ecosystems.

"I've had the awesome privilege to be part of the DataStax journey for the last five-plus years and I couldn't be more excited for our next chapter," said Chet Kapoor, chairman and CEO at DataStax, in a post on LinkedIn. "We have long said that there is no AI without data, and this vision will now be amplified with IBM."

With AI adoption increasing across industries, IBM's acquisition of DataStax aims to bridge a critical gap in enterprise AI deployment. The industry analysts at McKinsey estimate that only 1% of enterprise data is currently utilized in AI models, while 70% of companies with high-performing AI initiatives still face data-related challenges. DataStax's technology is expected to enhance IBM watsonx.data, IBM's hybrid data lakehouse for AI and analytics, by enabling enterprises to manage and leverage unstructured data more effectively.

DataStax's solutions are used by major corporations, including FedEx, Capital One, The Home Depot, and Verizon. The company, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, has been instrumental in advancing database technology for AI workloads.

"Enterprises want to deliver production AI fast but are still struggling to unlock the value in their data to power AI applications and agents," said Kapoor. "DataStax's products solve this problem, accelerating AI's promise with the scalability, security, and accuracy developers and enterprises need."

IBM continues to expand its footprint in AI and hybrid cloud solutions, leveraging open source innovation to drive its enterprise AI strategy. This latest acquisition follows its ongoing efforts to enhance AI-driven data solutions and provide scalable infrastructure for organizations navigating the evolving AI landscape.