SAP Launches Snowflake Solution Extension for Business Data Cloud

SAP has introduced a Snowflake solution extension for SAP Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC), marking a significant expansion of its business data fabric strategy unveiled at SAP TechEd Berlin this week. The announcement follows a newly formed partnership between SAP and Snowflake, aimed at simplifying how enterprises harmonize mission-critical business data with advanced AI and analytics capabilities.

The launch represents SAP’s continued push to give customers greater flexibility in managing data and AI workloads across multi-cloud environments. SAP Snowflake brings the AI Data Cloud platform’s compute, storage, and machine learning capabilities directly into the SAP BDC ecosystem, where it will be available as a fully managed, SAP-supported solution extension. This means organizations can now leverage Snowflake’s unified platform for data engineering, analytics, and AI application development while maintaining the business context and semantic richness inherent in SAP data.

For enterprises struggling with data fragmentation across hybrid cloud environments, the integration addresses what SAP describes as a “hidden data tax,” which is the loss of business context that occurs when moving data between systems. Through bidirectional, zero-copy data sharing enabled by SAP BDC Connect for Snowflake, data teams can work with live SAP data products in real time without duplication or the governance risks that come with data movement.

The partnership combines SAP’s decades of expertise in mission-critical business processes with Snowflake’s platform capabilities for building AI and machine learning solutions at scale. Early adopter AstraZeneca highlighted how the integration supports their mission to pioneer life-changing medicines. Russell Smith, Vice President of ERP Transformation Technology, noted that “data and AI are central to achieving this aim, and our close collaboration with SAP and Snowflake compliments our ability to access, process and analyze real-time data.”

Extending the Business Data Fabric Architecture

At the heart of the announcement is SAP’s vision for a business data fabric: an architectural framework that converges traditional data warehouses, lakehouses, and modern cloud platforms into a unified ecosystem. SAP Snowflake extends this fabric by providing customers with cloud-scale compute and storage options for diverse workloads, from operational analytics to complex AI model training.

SAP BDC already offers fully managed data products spanning SAP Cloud ERP, SAP SuccessFactors, sustainability solutions, and customer experience applications. The addition of Snowflake as a solution extension means these semantically rich data products can now flow seamlessly into Snowflake’s environment, where data teams can leverage the platform’s Marketplace, collaboration features, and native AI development tools.

From an operational standpoint, SAP Snowflake will be sold and supported directly through SAP, simplifying procurement and support for customers who prefer a single-vendor relationship. The solution is planned for general availability in Q1 2026, with SAP BDC Connect for Snowflake following in the first half of 2026. Early access to preview features and the product roadmap is available now for select clients.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

SAPinsiders gain new flexibility in AI-ready data management. The SAP Snowflake launch gives enterprises direct access to Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud within SAP’s business data fabric. This shift means technology leaders can consolidate analytics and AI workloads under one governance model while retaining SAP semantics. For CIOs and data officers, that potentially translates into faster time-to-value, reduced duplication costs, and simplified compliance.

AI development becomes more contextually intelligent and scalable. Developers can now build intelligent applications that draw on semantically rich SAP data and Snowflake’s scalable compute. Joule Agents powered by SAP HANA Cloud can interact natively with data in both ecosystems, improving precision in AI reasoning and decision automation. Enterprises pursuing digital transformation can experiment with AI models and agents without losing the lineage and meaning of their data.

The market is shifting toward open, hybrid data architectures. SAP’s embrace of Snowflake underscores a broader evolution in enterprise data strategy from siloed warehouses to interoperable fabrics that integrate SAP, Databricks, Google Cloud, and beyond. For IT leaders, this reinforces the importance of prioritizing platforms that support zero-copy data sharing, open governance, and native AI integration when evaluating vendors.