The Cloud Native Computing Foundation has expanded its Silver Membership roster with the addition of 12 new companies, signaling continued momentum behind cloud native technologies as enterprises grapple with rising complexity, distributed infrastructure, and the operational demands of artificial intelligence.
The move reflects how cloud native tooling has shifted from an emerging architecture choice to a foundational layer for modern IT strategies across industries.
CNCF, which operates under The Linux Foundation, plays a central role in stewarding open source projects such as Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Envoy. These technologies have become core components of enterprise platforms, particularly as organizations move toward hybrid and multi-cloud deployments.
According to CNCF’s most recent State of Cloud Native Development report, more than 15 million developers worldwide now use cloud native technologies, with backend and DevOps professionals leading adoption. That growth mirrors broader enterprise priorities: scaling applications globally, maintaining resilience across distributed systems, and controlling operational costs while supporting data-intensive and AI-driven workloads.
The latest cohort of Silver Members illustrates how the cloud native ecosystem itself is evolving. While early adoption focused heavily on container orchestration and basic platform enablement, today’s emphasis is increasingly on observability, automation, cost efficiency, and security. Many of the new members specialize in monitoring, data platforms, DevSecOps, and cloud-native databases, highlighting the need to operate complex systems reliably at scale rather than simply deploy them.
Jonathan Bryce, executive director of CNCF, described the expansion as evidence of cloud native’s growing strategic importance. He noted that the new members bring expertise in observability, cloud-native AI, and infrastructure, reflecting rising demand for automated, secure platforms that balance performance with cost and operational simplicity. For CNCF, the additions strengthen a global community that collaborates on standards and open source innovation while responding to enterprise realities.
Silver Membership within CNCF provides companies with access to a range of benefits valued at more than $300,000, including training resources, legal guidance, discounts on event sponsorship, and participation in working groups that influence project roadmaps. For many organizations, membership is less about branding and more about proximity to the technical and governance conversations shaping the future of cloud infrastructure.
The new members span a broad geographic and functional spectrum. They include database and analytics providers, cloud and data center operators, system integrators, and observability specialists. ClickHouse brings high-performance analytical database technology widely used for real-time analytics. Firms like Grepr focus on reducing the soaring costs of observability data by filtering and aggregating signals before they reach monitoring tools. Others, such as CUE Labs, are addressing configuration management as a reliability challenge rather than a static task, reflecting lessons learned from operating large-scale Kubernetes environments.
Regional players are also well represented. Excellion Sdn Bhd emphasizes secure, cloud-native infrastructure and digital sovereignty in Malaysia, while kt cloud operates one of South Korea’s largest cloud and AI data center platforms. Their inclusion underscores how cloud native adoption is no longer limited to Silicon Valley or Western Europe, but has become integral to national digital strategies and enterprise modernization efforts worldwide.
Security and compliance remain central themes. Hunter Strategy’s focus on DevSecOps and platform engineering for government and defense clients highlights the role cloud native practices now play in highly regulated environments. At the same time, companies such as pgEdge are extending open source databases like PostgreSQL to support distributed, low-latency applications without abandoning standard technologies, addressing enterprise concerns about lock-in and long-term maintainability.
Taken together, the new Silver Members reflect a market that has moved beyond experimentation. Cloud native platforms are now mission-critical, supporting everything from core business systems to AI model training and inference. That shift brings new pressures: the need for better observability across sprawling environments, automation to manage scale, and governance models that keep open source sustainable as usage grows.
For CNCF, expanding its membership base also reinforces its role as a neutral convener in an increasingly competitive infrastructure landscape. As hyperscalers, enterprises, and startups alike depend on shared open source foundations, collaboration on standards and best practices becomes essential to avoid fragmentation. The growing diversity of CNCF members suggests that the foundation’s influence will extend further into areas such as AI infrastructure, cost management, and platform engineering.
As cloud native technologies continue to underpin digital transformation initiatives, the composition of CNCF’s community offers a snapshot of where enterprise priorities are heading. Observability, automation, and efficient operations are no longer optional enhancements but prerequisites for running modern systems. The latest membership expansion reflects that reality, positioning CNCF and its ecosystem at the center of how organizations worldwide build and operate the next generation of digital infrastructure.
Executive Insights FAQ
Why is CNCF adding more Silver Members now?
The growth reflects accelerating cloud native adoption and rising enterprise demand for scalable, reliable, and cost-efficient infrastructure.
What trends do the new members highlight?
They point to increased focus on observability, automation, security, and operating distributed systems at scale.
How does Silver Membership benefit participating companies?
Members gain access to training, legal resources, working groups, and opportunities to influence open source standards.
Why is observability such a recurring theme among new members?
Distributed cloud native environments generate massive data volumes, making efficient monitoring and cost control critical.
What does this mean for enterprises adopting cloud native platforms?
It signals a mature ecosystem with growing support for operational challenges, not just deployment and development.
