As enterprises chase artificial intelligence to deliver tangible returns, one theme is cutting through the noise: AI anywhere must meet the data where it lives. Hybrid architectures are no longer optional in a world where security logs, clinical research and edge workloads generate massive, distributed data streams.

SanjMo’s Sanjeev Mohan talks with theCUBE about Cloudera’s positioning in AI.

The shift marks a comeback moment for vendors that once lagged in cloud adoption. Cloudera Inc., long known for its data maturity but slower to embrace the public cloud, is now positioning itself at the center of hybrid AI. By combining long-standing strengths with new capabilities, the company is moving from catch-up to competitive, according to Sanjeev Mohan (pictured), industry analyst and principal at SanjMo.

“Cloudera is finding its legs,” Mohan told theCUBE. “It has taken them a long time … [but] I think the market has now come to Cloudera.”

Mohan spoke with theCUBE’s Dave Vellante at Cloudera EVOLVE25, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed Cloudera’s positioning in AI, its acquisitions to strengthen governance and portability and customer use cases proving AI’s billion-dollar return on investment. (* Disclosure below.)

AI anywhere as a strategy

Cloudera’s evolution reflects a shift from its on-premises Hadoop origins to today’s hybrid multicloud reality, where its AI anywhere approach resonates with enterprises. The company’s “AI anywhere” message resonates because enterprises need the flexibility to run models at the edge, on-premises or in the cloud, according to Mohan.

“What happens with AI is … you need to bring AI to where your data is,” he said. “Cloudera, because of its origins on-prem and having this hybrid multicloud, is actually very well-placed to be able to handle all kinds of new workloads that are not necessarily only in the cloud.”

Recent Cloudera acquisitions strengthen that hybrid stack, according to Mohan. Octopai, acquired in late 2024, extends data lineage down to the column level, bolstering governance alongside the company’s SDX. Taikun Cloud, acquired in August, adds containerized capabilities to deploy “AI in a box” workloads anywhere, from training in the cloud to inference at the edge. These moves strengthen the portability at the core of Cloudera’s AI anywhere strategy.

“They have this whole AI in a box,” Mohan said.” You can run AI, training modules, inferencing on the edge, on-premises [and] in the cloud. It’s a very well-rounded stack with all the pieces.”

ROI proves the point

AI’s business value is often hard to quantify, but use cases in life sciences show the scale of impact, according to Mohan. Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie Inc. faces timelines of more than a decade and costs up to $6 billion to bring new drugs to market. AI accelerates molecule testing and streamlines the 2,000 Food and Drug Administration documents required for clinical trials, reducing weeks of manual effort to days.

“AI is helping them bring the workload in-house, save on time and cost, produce these documents faster,” Mohan said. “If they can reduce the time for a new drug discovery … we’re talking about billion-dollar ROI just for this one use case — document generation.”

The broader challenge is translating technology strength into market leadership, ensuring that its AI anywhere message cuts through in a crowded market, Mohan added. With the right acquisitions and a maturing platform, Cloudera must now communicate its confidence and showcase vertical wins such as pharma data leader Iqvia Inc.

“AI is a level playing field,” Mohan said. “No one really has a leadership because the whole space is evolving literally on a daily basis. What Cloudera needs to do is really go to market. They need to message that we have the right technology. Today, they’re starting to do that … you see the level of conviction in today’s keynote by [CEO] Charles Sansbury.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Cloudera EVOLVE25:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Cloudera EVOLVE25. Neither Cloudera, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE