AI data gets smarter: NetApp and NVIDIA are powering the future of intelligent computing

NetApp, a leading provider of intelligent data infrastructure, has announced a significant partnership with NVIDIA Corporation to integrate the NVIDIA AI Data Platform into its ONTAP ecosystem. This collaboration aims to revolutionize AI reasoning by enabling businesses to maximize the potential of their data, improving inference capabilities and real-time decision-making.

With enterprise data growing at an unprecedented rate, organizations face mounting challenges in managing, processing, and extracting insights from vast, often unstructured datasets. Traditional computing architectures are struggling to keep pace with AI-driven workflows, creating bottlenecks in scalability, security, and efficiency. By adopting AI-powered data pipelines, enterprises can eliminate data silos, optimize storage, and enhance AI model performance across hybrid cloud environments.

NetApp’s latest initiative represents a paradigm shift in enterprise data management, addressing these challenges through metadata cataloging, automation, and AI acceleration. By integrating NVIDIA’s cutting-edge AI technology, NetApp is positioning itself as a frontrunner in next-generation data infrastructure solutions.

What Does the NetApp and NVIDIA Collaboration Bring to AI Data Workflows?

At the core of this collaboration is NetApp ONTAP, the company’s enterprise-grade data management software. When combined with the NVIDIA AI Data Platform, this system enables businesses to unlock the full potential of their AI-driven applications.

Through the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software suite, NetApp customers can optimize AI inference workloads using NVIDIA AI-Q Blueprints and NVIDIA NIM microservices. These solutions facilitate seamless integration with advanced AI models, including NVIDIA Llama Nemotron Reason, helping enterprises transition from data storage to actionable intelligence.

NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPUs, advanced networking solutions, and the NVIDIA Dynamo open-source inference library provide the computational power needed to drive real-time AI-driven insights. This integration enhances enterprise AI adoption, improving both speed and efficiency in decision-making.

NetApp’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Platform, Krish Vitaldevara, emphasized that conventional data management techniques are insufficient for modern AI applications. He stated that the fusion of NetApp ONTAP’s mature data infrastructure with the NVIDIA AI Data Platform provides enterprises with the tools needed to harness AI securely and efficiently, ensuring compliance while unlocking new business opportunities.

What Are the Key Innovations in NetApp’s AI-Powered Data Pipeline?

NetApp has introduced several key innovations designed to streamline AI data processing and improve enterprise AI efficiency:

The Global Metadata Namespace allows organizations to analyze, classify, and extract features from datasets across hybrid cloud environments. This enhances the discoverability of enterprise data, improving data-driven AI applications.

The Integrated AI Data Pipeline automates unstructured data preparation for AI applications. It enables incremental change tracking, high-speed replication via NetApp SnapMirror, and the creation of highly compressed vector embeddings, facilitating semantic search for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) inferencing.

The Disaggregated Storage Architecture optimizes network performance, flash storage speeds, and power consumption, ensuring high-performance AI workloads with minimal infrastructure costs.

How Does This Impact the Enterprise AI Landscape?

The integration of NetApp and NVIDIA’s AI technology comes at a time when enterprises are increasingly dependent on AI to drive automation, improve analytics, and enhance operational efficiency. However, the complexity of AI model training, data accessibility issues, and growing concerns over AI security and compliance have hindered broader AI adoption.

By offering an end-to-end AI data infrastructure, NetApp and NVIDIA provide enterprises with the ability to connect AI-ready data sources, ensuring that AI agents can access relevant business data in real-time. This advancement reduces latency in AI-driven decision-making, a critical factor in industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Kari Briski, Vice President of Generative AI Software for Enterprise at NVIDIA, highlighted that most enterprise data remains unstructured, making data extraction and AI model training inefficient. The collaboration between NetApp and NVIDIA ensures that business data remains readily accessible, enabling AI models to deliver faster, more accurate insights.

How Is the Stock Market Responding to NetApp and NVIDIA’s AI Advancements?

NetApp and NVIDIA’s continued focus on AI-powered data infrastructure has drawn interest from investors, with both companies’ stock performances reflecting strong industry confidence.

As of March 19, 2025, NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) is trading at $93.58, reflecting a 0.01431% increase. However, the company’s recent fiscal third-quarter earnings revealed a revenue miss, reporting $1.64 billion against expectations of $1.7 billion. Despite this, earnings per share met projections at $1.91.

NetApp’s revenue forecast for the upcoming quarter stands at $1.73 billion, slightly below the analyst consensus of $1.76 billion. Despite these shortfalls, analysts remain optimistic, attributing the revenue miss to sales execution issues rather than declining demand. NetApp’s continued expansion into AI and cloud infrastructure suggests long-term growth potential. Analysts rate the stock “Overweight”, with a price target of $120.57.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), which plays a crucial role in AI acceleration technology, is currently trading at $118.04, reflecting a 0.02261% increase. The company recently unveiled new AI processors, including Blackwell Ultra, scheduled for release in late 2025, alongside future-generation AI chips Rubin and Feynman, planned through 2028.

Analysts have responded positively, with UBS reaffirming a “Buy” rating and a price target of $185, citing strong AI infrastructure demand. The average price target for NVIDIA sits at $177.23, with projections ranging up to $220, suggesting an upside potential of over 48%.

Is Now the Right Time to Invest in NetApp and NVIDIA?

For NetApp, the recent earnings miss and conservative revenue guidance suggest a “Hold” strategy, with investors advised to monitor upcoming earnings and improvements in AI execution. However, the company’s focus on AI-powered data pipelines and cloud expansion positions it for long-term growth.

NVIDIA remains a “Buy”, given its strong AI computing roadmap, robust product pipeline, and growing demand for AI acceleration. The company’s leadership in enterprise AI solutions ensures it remains a dominant force in the AI-driven economy.

As businesses continue investing in AI-powered data infrastructure, NetApp and NVIDIA’s strategic partnership signals a major leap forward in enterprise AI transformation, setting the stage for broader AI adoption and market expansion.