Spectro Cloud’s “2025 State of Production Kubernetes” Report Finds AI Driving Growth as Cost Pressures Bite

New study of 455 platform engineers and architects signals Kubernetes’ new era: AI-driven scale, edge explosion, and legacy VM transformation.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spectro Cloud today published the 2025 State of Production Kubernetes report, the industry’s most comprehensive annual snapshot of how enterprises really run Kubernetes in production. Conducted independently by research firm Adience, the fifth-edition study is the largest in the series to date.

“Five years in, Kubernetes is no longer an experiment — it’s mission-critical infrastructure,” said Tenry Fu, co-founder and CEO, Spectro Cloud. “This year’s data shows organizations doubling down on AI and edge, even while wrestling legacy VMs into their clusters. The companies that master scale and complexity fastest will create an unbeatable platform for innovation.”

Key 2025 findings

• AI is the top growth driver: 90% of respondents expect their AI workloads on Kubernetes to grow in the next 12 months.
• Multicloud becomes the default model: The average K8s adopter now runs clusters in more than five environments — from all three hyperscalers to on-prem and GPU/sovereign clouds. Placement is driven by multicloud strategies, on-prem repatriation and AI needs.
• Cost is top pain — but AI is the fix. Cost overtook skills and security as the #1 challenge (42%), with 88% reporting a year-on-year rise in total Kubernetes TCO, and growth expected over the next 12 months. Yet 92% say they are investing in AI-powered optimization tools to bring bills back under control .
• Edge hits mainstream, powered by AI: 50% now run production K8s at the edge, and wrestle with new challenges of performance, connectivity and model management for their AI workloads.
• VMware exit ramps multiply as legacy goes cloud-native: With the majority of app workloads on K8s already, 31% plan to migrate their remaining VMs into Kubernetes; 26% already use KubeVirt in production.
• Platform engineering drives business outcomes: Over half say their clusters are still “snowflakes” with highly manual operations.Teams that centralize application deployment in a platform-engineering function outperform every other group on key devops metrics around reliability and speed.

“Enterprises want benchmarks they can trust,” said Chris Wells, Managing Director at Adience, who conducted the research. “Because we ask the same core questions each year, the 2025 study exposes trends as they happen — like the sharp rise in edge clusters and the evolving challenges enterprises face in managing multi-environment clusters.”

Report scope

Spanning five thematic chapters — from confident scale and AI adoption to VM modernization and operational outcomes — the report combines quantitative data with candid interviews from senior technologists in finance, telecoms, healthcare, retail, public sector and manufacturing.

The free report is available for download today at spectrocloud.com/state-of-kubernetes-2025. The report’s lead author will also unpack the results in a 45-minute live webinar on 11 September. Registration is open now.

Methodology

Adience surveyed 455 professionals in May 2025 via an online questionnaire and deep-dive phone interviews. All respondents work for organizations with ≥250 employees and have direct responsibility for production Kubernetes environments.

About Spectro Cloud

Spectro Cloud delivers simplicity and control to organizations running Kubernetes at any scale. Its Palette platform lets teams deploy, manage and secure clusters — edge to data center to cloud — while maintaining full stack choice. Learn more at spectrocloud.com.

About Adience

Adience is a specialist B2B research agency that provides independent, data-driven insights for technology decision-makers. Visit adience.com for details.