CNCF 2025 survey: Kubernetes in production at 82% of container users

2026-01-20 · Publisher : CNCF · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

On 20 January 2026, the CNCF publishes its annual survey: 82% of container users run Kubernetes in production (66% in 2023) and 66% of organizations hosting generative AI use it for inference.

### Background On 20 January 2026, the CNCF publishes the results of its annual cloud native survey, titled "the infrastructure of AI's future". Main finding: **82% of container users run Kubernetes in production**, up from 66% in 2023. The CNCF draws the line of a Kubernetes that has become the "operating system for AI". ### Key facts - 98% of surveyed organizations have adopted cloud native techniques; 59% say much or nearly all of their development and deployment is cloud native. - 66% of organizations hosting generative AI models use Kubernetes to manage some or all of their inference workloads. - Model deployments remain cautious: 7% deploy daily, 47% occasionally, and 44% do not yet run AI or ML workloads on Kubernetes. - Operational maturity: 58% of cloud native "innovators" use GitOps extensively, versus 23% of "adopters". - Top adoption barrier: cultural changes with development teams (47%), ahead of training and security (36% each) and complexity (34%). ### Why it matters These figures shift the discussion: the question is no longer adopting Kubernetes but running it well, including for AI. The main barrier is human before being technical, which points to platform engineering, training and change management, areas where an IT services firm adds value. The press release does not detail the sample: read it as a barometer of the CNCF community, not as a market statistic. ### Takeaway Kubernetes is a production standard; the remaining barriers are cultural and organizational.

Tags : Kubernetes, Cloud natif, IA, Plateforme engineering, DevOps