3 MIN READ
Chris Aniszczyk | 23 January 2026
This blog post was originally published on the CNCF blog page on January 20, 2026.
The CNCF Annual Cloud Native Survey confirms a long-developing trend: Kubernetes has moved from container orchestration to becoming the backbone of modern infrastructure—including AI.
Production usage of Kubernetes now stands at 82% among container users, and 66% of AI adopters are using it to scale inference workloads. Kubernetes is no longer a niche tool; it’s a core infrastructure layer supporting scale, reliability, and increasingly AI systems.
This shift reflects both the technical evolution and growing operational maturity of the cloud native ecosystem. 98% of organizations surveyed have now adopted cloud native technologies, making it the near-universal standard for modern enterprise infrastructure.
Kubernetes: From Infrastructure Choice to Infrastructure Standard
Survey data shows that Kubernetes has matured into the enterprise default. Organizations have moved beyond experimentation and are now focused on standardizing their infrastructure strategies. With this maturity comes more consistent deployment models and a broader application of cloud native best practices across teams.
Kubernetes is now the default choice for building scalable, observable systems. It’s the platform teams rely on as they move from pilots to production-grade AI workloads.
AI Adoption Is Infrastructure-First
There’s often a gap between AI ambition and what infrastructure can support. The 2025 data found that only 7% of organizations deploy AI models daily, and over half don’t train models at all. Instead, many prioritize the reliable and cost-effective operation of pre-trained models.
Kubernetes is helping bridge that gap, enabling teams to unify how they scale, deploy and manage AI workloads. As the report notes, “Success requires treating AI/ML as a first-class infrastructure challenge, not just an algorithmic one.”
What Mature Teams Are Doing: GitOps, Platforms, Observability
The survey reinforces the growing trend toward platform engineering. Teams that have adopted GitOps workflows, internal developer portals, and automated pipelines are better positioned to scale AI and cloud native workloads.
A clear signal of maturity: 0% of “explorers” report using GitOps, compared to 58% of “innovators.” These practices represent well-established methods that support consistency, scalability, and operational efficiency.
Observability also continues to be critical as workloads become more dynamic. OpenTelemetry’s position as the second-highest-velocity CNCF project reflects strong momentum for vendor-neutral, standardized instrumentation. Teams now depend on real-time visibility to keep systems reliable and performant in production.
Culture Is Now the Primary Barrier
For the first time, culture—not complexity or security—is the top barrier to cloud native adoption. 47% of organizations cite cultural change with development teams as their biggest challenge.
This highlights a recurring insight from the survey: the technical foundation is in place, but many organizations still need to adapt their internal structures and workflows to fully benefit from cloud native capabilities.
Looking Ahead: Infrastructure and Sustainability
As Kubernetes cements its position as the infrastructure for AI and modern workloads, the community faces the new challenge of sustainability. AI workloads are increasing pressure on open source infrastructure through machine-driven usage.
The report warns that many systems operate on a “dangerously fragile premise.” Ensuring continued innovation will depend on organizations stepping up to contribute, support maintainers, and participate actively in sustaining the ecosystem.
Sustaining the future of cloud native will require intentional investment in infrastructure, governance, and community. CNCF will continue advancing this work through open collaboration, evolving standards, and support for maintainers and contributors across the ecosystem.
For those building at scale, now is the time to align your infrastructure strategy with what the data—and the community—clearly show.
Join our upcoming webinar, Cloud Native Live: The CNCF Annual Cloud Native Survey — Infrastructure of AI’s Future, on February 3, 2026, to hear SVP of research Hilary Carter and a special guest analyst discuss the results of the survey and what that means for the future of the cloud native ecosystem.