Kyndryl and Broadcom have unveiled an expanded partnership aimed at helping enterprises build private clouds capable of supporting artificial intelligence workloads. The companies announced Thursday new consulting services built around VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), with a specific focus on enabling agentic workflows and AI adoption. As part of the initiative, Broadcom is backing the training of several thousand Kyndryl consultants, architects, and delivery specialists to deepen VMware expertise.
The announcement reflects a broader industry shift toward hybrid and private cloud environments, driven by rising data sovereignty demands and the need for more controlled AI deployments. Giovanni Carraro, global strategic alliances leader at Kyndryl, said in a statement that enterprises are rationalizing their infrastructure and need an outcome-driven approach. He emphasized that the expanded partnership and investment in VCF skills will help customers build modern, resilient private clouds that support AI adoption, data modernization, and security vulnerability mitigation.
A closer look at the expanded alliance
The new services will leverage VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1, which integrates compute, storage, networking, and management capabilities into a unified software-defined stack. The idea is to give enterprises a more cloud-like experience on-premises or in hosted environments, complete with automation, policy-as-code, container support, and developer-friendly interfaces.
Kyndryl, a massive IT infrastructure services provider that was spun off from IBM in 2021, has long been a major player in managing enterprise VMware environments. The company already operates a significant portion of the world's VMware deployments for its customers. This new arrangement formalizes and expands that relationship, putting thousands of trained professionals in place to support the next wave of VCF deployments.
For Broadcom, which completed its $61 billion acquisition of VMware in November 2023, the partnership is another step toward rebuilding trust and momentum in the enterprise market. The acquisition was controversial, with many customers upset over pricing changes and the transition to subscription licensing. Broadcom has since been working to position VCF as the central platform for private cloud and hybrid cloud initiatives.
Analyst reaction: Skills investment could be a game changer
Mike Leone, a vice president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, sees the skills investment as the most significant part of the announcement. Enterprises moved onto VCF quickly, but many are now stuck at the modernization stage, he said. The loss of deep VMware talent across the industry has made it hard for companies to fully leverage the platform. Broadcom putting real money behind training thousands of Kyndryl consultants is a direct response to that problem, he added.
Leone noted that the initiative may not be glamorous, but delivery capacity is often the deciding factor in whether a platform gets used well. Kyndryl is a logical partner for this because it already runs a huge amount of VMware for customers. This simply resources a relationship that was already there, he said.
Skepticism about how much is really new
Other analysts question whether the announcement represents a meaningful change or just a repackaging of existing efforts. Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research, noted that Kyndryl and VMware expanded their partnership back in November 2021, and managed-services status followed in August 2023. The relationship is old; the packaging is new, he said.
Gogia pointed out that the new announcement involves no disclosed financial commitment, no exclusivity, and no named launch customer. It is essentially scaffolding: consulting, certification, and managed operations built around VCF 9.1. While it demonstrates strong interest in private clouds from the two vendors, he questioned whether enterprise demand for private cloud is actually as high as the announcement implies.
He noted that no broad enterprise migration from public cloud back to private cloud is visible. The more defensible interpretation is selective workload placement. The announcement does not prove that enterprises must shift to private cloud; it proves that Broadcom and Kyndryl want a larger role when enterprises decide where workloads run.
The case for a cloud-like private experience
Justin Greis, CEO of consulting firm Acceligence, took a more positive view. He found the announcement interesting because the companies are trying to make the private portion of the equation behave more like public cloud, rather than simply resurrecting the old corporate data center. Automation, policy as code, container support, developer experience, AI inference, and agent governance are all part of that proposition, he said.
Greis also highlighted the personnel investment as potentially more consequential than the technology language. Enterprise infrastructure is already incredibly complicated, and adding AI agents, multiple models, new governance requirements, and hybrid infrastructure makes the skills challenge even more acute. Technology vendors can build sophisticated platforms, but enterprises still need people who can turn those platforms into reliable operating environments.
The irony of the sovereignty narrative
Shashi Bellamkonda, a principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group, saw an ironic twist in the announcement. Broadcom's post-acquisition VMware pricing is itself what pushed many technology leaders into pain and dependency, yet the product it now sells is marketed as the antidote, he said. VCF is promoted as a route to sovereignty from governments and hyperscalers, but it leaves buyers just as dependent on Broadcom commercially as they were before.
Bellamkonda emphasized that sovereignty from a jurisdiction is not the same as independence from a vendor. This subtle distinction is often lost in the marketing around private cloud and sovereignty solutions.
Context: The evolution of VMware Cloud Foundation
VMware Cloud Foundation has become the cornerstone of Broadcom's private cloud strategy. The platform brings together vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and Aria into an integrated stack that can run both traditional and cloud-native workloads. With the release of VCF 9.1, Broadcom has added enhanced automation, AI inference support, and improved governance capabilities.
The focus on agentic workflows is a direct response to the growing interest in AI agents and autonomous systems. Enterprises want to deploy AI models that can take actions based on data and policies, but they need a secure, controlled environment to do so. Private clouds built on VCF are intended to provide that foundation, with fine-grained security controls and the ability to keep sensitive data within specific jurisdictions.
Kyndryl's role is to provide the services and expertise that make these platforms work in practice. The company has been building out its AI and cloud consulting capabilities since its spinoff, and this partnership with Broadcom is a substantial endorsement of its strategy.
The broader market context is also important. As enterprises have grappled with hyperscaler cost escalations and regulatory pressure, private cloud and hybrid cloud have regained mindshare. Organizations are increasingly viewing on-premises infrastructure as a strategic asset rather than a legacy burden. However, as the skeptics note, the actual shift back to private cloud is selective, not wholesale.
The success of this initiative will depend on execution. Training thousands of consultants is a significant undertaking, and the proof will be in the quality of deployments and outcomes for customers. Both companies have strong incentives to make it work: Kyndryl wants to grow its services revenue, and Broadcom wants to demonstrate that its VCF platform can deliver business value beyond the pricing controversies that followed the acquisition.
For enterprises, the expanded partnership provides another option for their AI infrastructure needs, particularly those with sovereignty requirements. The availability of certified professionals is likely to make a difference, especially for organizations that have lost VMware expertise as a result of layoffs and retirements.
The announcement also signals a deepening alignment between the IT services industry and infrastructure vendors. As platforms become more integrated and AI capabilities become more embedded, the line between software, hardware, and services is blurring. Partnerships like this one are likely to become more common as vendors seek to provide end-to-end solutions.
What remains to be seen is whether the market will embrace the private cloud message with the same enthusiasm as the vendors. The analysts are divided, reflecting the broader uncertainty in the industry. But as Bellamkonda pointed out, the sovereignty promise of VCF still leaves enterprises dependent on Broadcom — and that is a critical consideration for any organization weighing a move to private cloud.
Source: Network World News