Oracle & Snowflake launch native OCI AI as a new service

Oracle and Snowflake have announced that Snowflake AI Data Cloud will be offered as a native service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, allowing customers to buy and use it directly through Oracle.

The move adds Snowflake to Oracle's cloud portfolio as the companies aim to give joint customers a simpler way to use data stored across Oracle systems for analytics and artificial intelligence.

Oracle will handle pricing, discounts and billing for Snowflake on OCI, creating a single commercial relationship for customers. Users will also be able to apply Oracle Universal Credits to Snowflake consumption, so existing Oracle cloud commitments can be used for the service.

Rather than requiring a separate contract and billing process with Snowflake, OCI customers will be able to provision the service through Oracle's cloud environment and manage spending through Oracle's standard mechanisms.

Data access

The service is intended to sit closer to enterprise data already held in Oracle software and databases. Supported data sources are set to include Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, Oracle NetSuite, Oracle Autonomous AI Database, MySQL HeatWave and Oracle NoSQL Database.

Oracle has been expanding its position in the market by combining infrastructure, database products, business applications and AI tools within a single cloud estate. Adding Snowflake as a native OCI service broadens the range of data platforms available to customers already running core workloads on Oracle technology.

The model is designed to reduce the need for custom data pipelines by supporting native data transfer through integrations. It should also help customers limit cross-cloud data movement, which can increase both complexity and network charges.

For customers, the practical appeal is likely to depend on whether the service reduces friction around data preparation and governance. Many large organisations hold operational data across finance, supply chain, human resources and database environments, and have struggled to bring those sources together for reporting and machine learning without creating duplicate stores or moving information between clouds.

AI push

The announcement reflects a wider race among cloud providers and data platform companies to make AI projects easier to deploy against existing enterprise information. Access to internal data has become a central issue for businesses trying to move beyond pilot projects and apply AI to routine operations.

Oracle said adding Snowflake would give customers more flexibility in how they use AI and data services on OCI. For Snowflake, the deal provides a tighter route into Oracle environments where many companies already run databases and business applications.

"Organisations are looking for faster, simpler ways to turn their enterprise data into business value with AI," said Clay Magouyrk, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle.

"By making Snowflake available as a native OCI service, we're giving customers more choice in the AI and data capabilities they can use, while simplifying how they deploy, manage and pay for those services. This is another way Oracle is helping customers accelerate their AI initiatives and turn innovation into measurable business outcomes," said Magouyrk.

The partnership also highlights how major cloud and software groups are increasingly willing to work together where customers want interoperability more than exclusivity. Oracle has been pushing multicloud and cross-platform arrangements as enterprises seek to use selected services without moving all their systems onto one vendor's stack.

Snowflake said the OCI deployment would give customers a way to work with Oracle data estates while keeping governance and security controls in place. That is likely to resonate with regulated industries and large global groups that want to use AI tools but remain cautious about how data is accessed and moved.

"AI has dramatically shortened the distance between enterprise data and real business value," said Sridhar Ramaswamy, Chief Executive Officer, Snowflake.

"Snowflake is excited to be the flagship AI data platform partner running as a first-party offering inside Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, giving joint customers the power to turn their Oracle data estates into an AI-ready foundation with the governance and security to move confidently at scale," said Ramaswamy.