Cloud-native technology, particularly Kubernetes, has reached mainstream adoption, with 89% of organizations surveyed by the CNCF using cloud-native technologies. At KubeCon Europe 2025, it was revealed that 80% of companies are now running Kubernetes in production, up from 66% the previous year. The event highlighted a shift in industry priorities towards optimization, efficiency, and skill development, as organizations increasingly build mission-critical applications on cloud-native platforms.
Key announcements at the conference included the launch of the Golden Kubestronaut Program to address talent shortages in Kubernetes adoption, the release of Argo CD v3 with enhancements in security and performance, and the introduction of the Valkey 8.1 in-memory data store optimized for AI workloads. The launch of the Certified Cloud Native Platform Engineering Associate (CNPA) certification and global education initiatives were also announced to expand the talent pipeline.
The CNCF’s Cloud Native Survey revealed that 93% of organizations are using, piloting, or evaluating Kubernetes, making it the industry standard for container orchestration. The survey also indicated a shift in priorities, with organizations now facing cultural and operational challenges as they scale adoption, emphasizing the need for automation and best practices in software delivery.
Overall, the industry is focusing on optimization, scalability, and organizational transformation, with CI/CD adoption increasing by 31% year-over-year. GitOps principles are gaining traction, exemplified by the release of Argo CD v3, which introduces improvements in security, performance, and usability. Project updates at KubeCon EU highlighted enhancements to various CNCF projects, such as Cilium, Open Policy Agent, Fluent Bit, and Rook, showcasing advancements in networking, security, telemetry, and storage solutions for Kubernetes clusters.
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