Enterprise software giant SAP and AI Data Cloud company Snowflake have announced a significant new partnership aimed at breaking down data silos and accelerating the development of enterprise-grade artificial intelligence. The collaboration will more tightly integrate their platforms, allowing businesses to combine mission-critical SAP data with Snowflake's powerful AI and analytics tools.
The partnership introduces new solutions designed to enable seamless data sharing between the two ecosystems without creating costly and complex data copies. This move is expected to empower thousands of joint customers to build more intelligent applications and gain deeper insights from their vast data landscapes.
Key Takeaways
- SAP and Snowflake are launching a new partnership to integrate their data cloud platforms.
- The collaboration focuses on "zero-copy" data sharing, allowing real-time access to data without duplication.
- A new product, SAP Snowflake solution extension, will be offered directly through SAP.
- The integration aims to help businesses build more powerful AI applications by combining SAP's business data with Snowflake's AI tools.
- The new solutions are expected to become generally available in the first half of 2026.
A Unified Approach to Enterprise Data
In a joint announcement, SAP and Snowflake detailed a plan to unify their respective data platforms, SAP Business Data Cloud and the Snowflake AI Data Cloud. The goal is to create a more open and integrated data environment for their shared customers, which include major global corporations.
At the heart of the collaboration is a technology known as zero-copy data sharing. This allows data stored in one system to be accessed and analyzed in another in real-time, without the need to physically move or duplicate it. This approach is designed to reduce complexity, lower costs, and ensure that decision-makers are always working with the most current information.
"By tightly integrating SAP and Snowflake, we’re making it simple for enterprises to connect their critical business data with its rich context in SAP with the power of seamless AI app and data agent development at scale in Snowflake," said Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product at Snowflake.
This integration means that data from SAP systems—which often manage core business operations like finance, supply chain, and human resources—can be directly utilized within Snowflake's environment to train AI models, run complex analytics, and develop intelligent applications.
What is Semantically Rich Data?
SAP often refers to its data as "semantically rich." This means the data isn't just raw numbers; it comes with built-in business context. For example, a sales figure is linked to a specific customer, product, region, and time period. This pre-existing context is highly valuable for training AI models, as it provides a deeper understanding of business operations, leading to more accurate and relevant AI-driven insights.
New Products to Bridge the Gap
The partnership is being brought to market through two primary offerings designed to cater to different customer needs. These solutions aim to make the integration as seamless as possible for businesses, regardless of their current data infrastructure.
SAP Snowflake Solution Extension
The flagship offering is the SAP Snowflake solution extension for SAP Business Data Cloud. This product will make Snowflake's platform available as an officially supported SAP solution extension. Essentially, customers can use Snowflake's cloud-scale storage and computing capabilities as a direct extension of their SAP data environment.
This allows organizations to harmonize SAP data with non-SAP data from other sources within a single, governed framework. The goal is to provide a complete, business-ready view of all enterprise data, which can then fuel AI and machine learning workflows.
SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Snowflake
For the thousands of enterprises already using Snowflake, the companies will offer SAP Business Data Cloud Connect for Snowflake. This connector enables bidirectional, zero-copy data sharing between a customer's existing Snowflake instance and SAP's Business Data Cloud.
With this connection, Snowflake users gain real-time access to the semantically rich data products within SAP without needing to build complex and brittle data pipelines. This simplifies data governance and ensures that AI models are grounded in trusted, up-to-date business information.
Product Availability Timeline
- SAP Snowflake solution extension: Planned for general availability in the first quarter of 2026.
- SAP BDC Connect for Snowflake: Planned for general availability in the first half of 2026.
Accelerating AI in the Enterprise
The ultimate objective of this collaboration is to help businesses accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence. By removing technical barriers to data access, SAP and Snowflake believe they can empower data science and development teams to innovate faster.
Irfan Khan, President and Chief Product Officer for SAP Data and Analytics, emphasized the focus on customer choice. "Bringing Snowflake to SAP Business Data Cloud empowers our customers with openness and choice," he stated. "Together, we combine SAP’s decades of leadership in mission-critical business applications with Snowflake’s modern data platform to deliver a unified, enterprise-ready, and SAP-supported experience."
This unified experience is critical for building what are often called "grounded" AI applications. When AI models are trained on a foundation of well-understood, context-rich business data, they are less likely to produce inaccurate or irrelevant results. This helps ensure that AI-powered applications are secure, intelligent, and aligned with organizational knowledge.
Industry Impact and Customer Validation
The partnership already has the support of major industry players who utilize both platforms. AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company, is one such customer that sees significant potential in the collaboration.
"Data and AI are central to achieving this aim, and our close collaboration with SAP and Snowflake compliments our ability to access, process and analyze real-time data," said Russell Smith, Vice President of ERP Transformation Technology at AstraZeneca. "This announcement will accelerate our mission and recognizes that every minute matters to make breakthroughs for patients."
AstraZeneca's perspective highlights the real-world implications of this partnership. For industries where speed and data accuracy are critical, such as pharmaceuticals, the ability to rapidly analyze unified business and scientific data can lead to faster innovation and breakthroughs.
By bringing together two of the most significant players in enterprise data, this collaboration signals a broader industry trend towards interoperability and open ecosystems. As businesses become increasingly reliant on AI, the ability to seamlessly access and leverage all available data, regardless of where it resides, will be a key competitive advantage.