现代数据栈的下一站是 AI：从 Datadog、Snowflake、ClickHouse 三笔收购说起

In short : Three acquisitions—Snowflake/Observe, ClickHouse/Langfuse, Datadog/Metaplane—prove the modern data stack is fusing with AI. Observability is the first beachhead; evaluations & agent orchestration are next.

After a decade of success, the modern data stack has entered consolidation. What comes next?

The postmodern data stack is AI.

The modern data stack created more than $100 billion in market cap with a simple promise : move the data via ETL, transform it inside a cloud data warehouse, put a semantic layer on top of it to unify metric definitions, & analyze it through BI.

This worked brilliantly for structured data, numerical data found within tables. But AI & businesses thrive on unstructured data, such as call transcripts, status reports, web searches, & PDFs.

The semantic layer, especially within large organizations with huge data sets, must now combine structured & unstructured information at scale, critical because all of it feeds AI & powers agents.

Strategic acquisitions prove this shift is already underway. The Datadog acquisition of Metaplane¹, the Snowflake acquisition of Observe², & the ClickHouse acquisition of Langfuse³ are the most concrete strategic moves reinforcing this fusion.

All of these initial acquisitions focus on observability & understanding AI systems. First, the volumes of data are enormous & essential to sustaining the breakneck pace of AI innovation.

Second, observability helps inform roadmaps : how are customers using AI? Where are they not successful? How can a business help them grow & expand?

We will see many more acquisitions that lead to a combined postmodern & AI stack, accelerating the consolidation that has already started. In addition, there are many pieces of the AI stack not represented here, such as evaluations & agent orchestration.

Those are next.

1. Datadog Acquires Metaplane ↩︎

2. Snowflake Announces Intent to Acquire Observe ↩︎

3. Langfuse is Joining ClickHouse ↩︎

Get the next one in your inbox

The 1-minute read that turns tech data into strategic advantage.
Read by 150k+ founders & operators.

GP at Theory Ventures. Former Google PM. Sharing data-driven insights on AI, web3, & venture capital.

Bloomberg • WSJ • Economist