NetApp said the planned acquisition will add specialized metadata and parallel file-system technology to ONTAP, targeting increasingly large AI environments.
- The combined architecture aims to reduce data-related GPU stalls and simplify shared storage deployment as AI environments scale.
- PEAK:AIO's technology originated through collaborations with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Carnegie Mellon University.
- CEO George Kurian said the deal delivers on NetApp's vision for a new generation of hyperscale AI infrastructure.
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) said Friday it plans to acquire PEAK:AIO, a software-defined AI storage company, as it looks to expand the capabilities of its storage platform for increasingly large artificial intelligence workloads.
The planned acquisition would bring PEAK:AIO’s metadata architecture and high-performance parallel file-system technology into NetApp’s ONTAP-based data architecture.
The combination is intended to help AI clouds scale shared storage alongside growing graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters, said NetApp.
Why NetApp Is Acquiring PEAK:AIO
NetApp said traditional storage architectures were not designed for the scale, concurrency and performance requirements of AI factories, AI clouds and other data-intensive applications.
Its planned architecture separates metadata from data, allowing metadata services to scale independently. NetApp said that approach is designed to support trillions of files, multi-exabyte environments and massively parallel workloads.
“With PEAK:AIO, we are delivering on our vision for a new generation of AI infrastructure,” CEO George Kurian said, adding that the combination is intended to help customers improve infrastructure efficiency and support AI at hyperscale.
What PEAK: AIO Adds To NetApp
PEAK: AIO’s technology adds specialized metadata services, a global namespace and parallel Network File System-based access for massively parallel workloads.
NetApp said ONTAP would remain the underlying data foundation, retaining its resilience, security and operational capabilities. The combined architecture is also intended to reduce data-related GPU stalls and simplify the deployment and operation of shared storage as AI environments grow.
PEAK:AIO’s technology originated through collaborations with research institutions including Los Alamos National Laboratory and Carnegie Mellon University. The company is based in Manchester, U.K., and its technology is deployed at organizations including those institutions, the Oxford Robotics Institute and the University of Liverpool.
What Comes Next
NetApp said the planned integration would provide an evolution path for existing ONTAP customers while adding PEAK:AIO’s metadata and parallel namespace capabilities.
Retail Sentiment Around NTAP Stock
On Stocktwits, retail investor sentiment surrounding NTAP stock turned ‘neutral’.
So far in 2026, NTAP stock has rallied more than 86%. In comparison, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR), which hold the stock, have risen around 13% and 46%, respectively, over the same period.
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