Microsoft agreed to acquire Confluent for about US$11 billion, a major deal that strengthens IBM-like real-time data capabilities for cloud and AI deployments in enterprise IT[2].
The move highlights accelerating consolidation as cloud and AI vendors buy streaming-data technology to support real-time AI workloads and data pipelines[2][1].

References:
1. https://techstartups.com/2025/12/10/technology-news-today-the-latest-in-tech-ai-startup-news-december-10-2025/
2. https://sophiccapital.com/december-14-2025-ai-trade-under-pressure/
3. https://www.bez-kabli.pl/news/technology-news-13-12-2025/
4. https://techintelpro.com/news/cybersecurity/ai/top-3-cybersecurity-threats-for-businesses-in-dec-2025
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwTh4VAiOtM
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbmzF69mSr4
7. https://commercial.allianz.com/news-and-insights/expert-risk-articles/allianz-risk-barometer-2025-new-technologies.html