By Jyothi Swaroop, CMO, DDN
This week marks a defining moment in DDN’s journey as we announced a $300 million strategic investment from Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Valuing DDN at $5 billion, this partnership represents more than just an infusion of capital—it is a vote of confidence in our vision to reshape enterprise AI infrastructure and deliver transformative outcomes.
AI is transforming how we work, play, stay healthy, and be safe. For it to fulfill its promise of faster performance, large language models, training, and inference have to go way up and costs have to go way down (GPU efficiency, data center space, power consumption).
DDN has the best technology, partnerships, track record, and team to deliver and accelerate AI value for AI Factories, Sovereign AI, Enterprises, and Clouds worldwide. Blackstone has deep expertise in helping scale transformative businesses, leadership in digital infrastructure and AI investments, and relationships with most of the world’s leading organizations, With Blackstone as a partner, we will:
- Accelerate our product roadmap for AI in the stack and above the stack in data centers and clouds
- Expand our Go to Market teams and Marketing footprint worldwide faster
- Broaden our channel partnerships. Build up our processes. Delight our customers more effectively
DDN has been at the forefront of data intelligence for over two decades, enabling organizations to leverage AI and high-performance computing (HPC) for innovation and measurable business results. This investment accelerates our ability to expand, innovate, and solidify our position as the leading force in enterprise AI.
- Exceptional Business Growth: DDN has surpassed $1 billion in bookings, achieving 4x growth in AI revenue while maintaining high profitability since its inception.
- Trusted by Global Enterprises: Industry leaders such as NVIDIA and NASA have chosen DDN, underscoring its strong market validation and leadership in data intelligence solutions.
- Powering the Largest AI Cloud Providers: Through innovative partnerships with xAI, Scaleway, iGenius, Lambda, and SIAM.AI, DDN delivers purpose-built infrastructure designed to support the next generation of AI clouds.
- Unwavering Partner Commitment: DDN has fostered deep, long-term collaborations with clients like NVIDIA, SuperMicro, Lenovo, WWT, and Eviden, consistently advancing their success with cutting-edge technology.
- Expanding Global Reach: With nearly 1,000 employees worldwide, DDN is scaling its operations into new regions, including Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe, broadening its influence and market presence.
Why This Investment Matters
The global adoption of AI has reached an inflection point, with organizations racing to deploy large language models (LLMs), generative AI, and real-time analytics. DDN’s advanced data intelligence platform is purpose-built to address these challenges, helping businesses achieve up to 10x returns on their AI investments.
This capital from Blackstone, a firm renowned for scaling world-class companies, positions us to bring supercomputing-grade technology to enterprises at an unprecedented scale. Our next-generation platform shrinks model training times from weeks to hours, reduces operational overhead, and empowers organizations with actionable insights faster than ever before.
What Sets DDN Apart in Enterprise AI
At DDN, we understand that AI’s true potential lies in scalable, reliable, and secure infrastructure. This is where we excel.
- Optimized AI Workflows: Our platform eliminates bottlenecks with instant data ingestion, real-time processing, and up to 100x faster insight generation, making it ideal for deploying LLMs and RAG for real-world applications.
- Unmatched Efficiency: By maximizing GPU utilization and delivering scalable I/O for unstructured data, we empower enterprises to achieve superior performance without compromising sustainability or cost-effectiveness.
- Seamless Flexibility: Whether on-premises, cloud, or edge, our software-defined architecture integrates effortlessly, adapting as AI needs evolve.
- Enterprise-Grade Security: Advanced multitenancy and dynamic resource allocation ensure data protection, even for Sovereign AI deployments.
These capabilities aren’t theoretical—they’re proven. DDN powers over 500,000 NVIDIA GPUs globally, delivering results for leaders like NVIDIA, Lambda, and xAI.
Blackstone’s Role in Our Next Chapter
Blackstone’s strategic investment enables us to scale faster. Their expertise in backing high-growth companies aligns perfectly with our vision to make enterprise AI accessible and impactful.
As Alex Bouzari, CEO and Co-Founder of DDN stated, “Blackstone’s support accelerates our mission to redefine the enterprise AI infrastructure category and scale at an even faster rate. By fueling our mission to push the boundaries of data intelligence, we believe we can empower organizations worldwide with next-level AI solutions that drive groundbreaking innovation and deliver significant returns on their investments.”
Paul Bloch, President and Co-Founder of DDN chimed in on the impact of this investment: “This investment enables us to execute our strategy to bring HPC-grade AI solutions to enterprises, transforming industries and delivering measurable outcomes. Our teams are laser-focused on solving real business challenges, from accelerating LLM deployments to enhancing inferencing, so our customers can unlock their data’s potential and achieve tangible ROI faster than ever before.”
What’s Next for DDN
The future is bright—and ambitious. With this investment, we will:
- Expand our reach, bringing supercomputing capabilities to industries ranging from healthcare to autonomous vehicles.
- Challenge industry giants by offering unparalleled performance and scale for enterprise AI solutions.
- Accelerate product innovation, including the launch of our groundbreaking Infinia platform, which is designed to redefine AI data intelligence.
- Meetsurging demand for enterprise AI solutions worldwide.
This partnership with Blackstone isn’t just about growth; it’s about empowering our customers to unlock their data’s potential and achieve tangible business outcomes.
Closing Thoughts
As we embark on this next phase, I’m inspired by the transformative power of AI and the role DDN plays in shaping its future. With Blackstone’s support, we’re poised to lead the enterprise AI revolution, delivering solutions that are faster, smarter, and more sustainable.
To learn more about how DDN is redefining data intelligence and accelerating enterprise AI, visit www.ddn.com.
Here’s to the next chapter in our journey—and to empowering organizations worldwide to achieve extraordinary results.
Jyothi Swaroop is the Chief Marketing Officer at DDN, where he leads the company’s global marketing and communications strategies.
