NetApp, Inc. NTAP recently partnered with Alphabet Inc. GOOGL to announce new capabilities for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, a fully managed file storage service built natively into Google Cloud. These new capabilities significantly reduce complexity, boost performance and unlock new potential for cloud storage workloads, notably those driven by artificial intelligence (AI), electronic design automation (EDA) and large content repositories.

These updates to Google Cloud NetApp Volumes demonstrate the synergy between NetApp’s intelligent data infrastructure and Google Cloud’s scalable AI and storage ecosystem. Following the announcement, NTAP’s shares jumped 13.08% in trading and closed at $86.1 on April 9, 2025.

Enterprises embracing an AI-driven ecosystem face the complex challenge of managing vast datasets across on-premises and cloud environments. NetApp and Google Cloud’s strengthened collaboration delivers intelligent data infrastructure that breaks down data silos, supports real-time hybrid-cloud integrations and transforms raw data into actionable insights.

NetApp’s intelligent data infrastructure, powered by ONTAP, delivers a next-generation solution for companies scaling up for AI, machine learning and data-intensive workloads. This partnership highlights how companies can bring on-premises NetApp ONTAP data and hybrid cloud storage into one AI-ready framework, fostering innovation, scalability and compliance under a unified ecosystem.

Key Advancements to Google Cloud NetApp Volumes

One of the standout features is the integration of NetApp Volumes with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform. This enhancement allows customers to access data stored in NetApp Volumes directly within Vertex AI. Customers can build custom AI agents and RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) applications faster without having to develop complex data pipeline solutions from scratch.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes now offers general availability of performance improvements to large capacity volumes across all 14 regions where Premium and Extreme tiers are offered. Users can now start with 15TiB volumes, scale seamlessly up to 1PiB and achieve up to 30 GiB/s throughput per volume, eliminating the need to partition massive datasets across multiple volumes. This makes it easy to move large-scale EDA designs, AI training datasets and video repositories to the cloud, maintaining performance levels.

With the new Flex Service Level improvements, NetApp Volumes now allow customers to independently scale capacity, throughput, and IOPS. This is valuable for teams that want to avoid overprovisioning storage just to meet performance needs, create custom storage pools that align with specific workload requirements and scale performance on-demand with up to 5 GiB/s throughput and 160K IOPS.

In the near term, NetApp Volumes will support Google Cloud’s Assured Workloads, allowing organizations to configure secure cloud environments aligned with regional compliance standards and maintain data residency, access control and key management within strict governance frameworks.

Cloud & AI Tailwinds Propel NTAP’s Growth Trajectory

NetApp is witnessing higher demand from customers for its portfolio of modern all-flash arrays, especially the C-series capacity flash and ASA block-optimized flash. 

Beyond growing demand for flash and block storage, NetApp is seeing rising interest in its cloud storage and AI offerings. In the fiscal third quarter, the company secured more than 100 deals focused on AI and modernizing data lakes. It is also actively developing generative AI solutions for both cloud and on-premises environments, partnering with major industry players. 

Notably, NetApp earlier collaborated with Google Cloud to power the Google Distributed Cloud with its robust data storage solutions. This partnership aims to deliver AI-ready infrastructure to the public sector and other highly regulated industries. NetApp’s intelligent data infrastructure—anchored by ONTAP and StorageGRID—helps customers scale workloads efficiently, leverage AI capabilities and maintain strong security and compliance. These same capabilities will also enhance Google's offerings in databases, AI and analytics.

Nonetheless, foreign exchange pressures, the impact of the Spot divestiture, softness in the global public sector and intense market competition are expected to put pressure on NetApp’s revenue growth in the near term.

NTAP’s Zacks Rank & Stock Price Performance

Currently, NTAP carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have lost 18% in the past year compared with the Zacks Computer- Storage Devices industry's decline of 44.9%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are InterDigital, Inc. IDCC and CommScope Holding COMM. IDCC & COMM presently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

IDCC is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and capabilities. The company engages in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular as well as wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It has a long-term growth expectation of 15%.

Headquartered in Hickory, NC, CommScope is a premier provider of infrastructure solutions, including wireless and fiber optic solutions, for the core, access and edge layers of communication networks. The company currently operates in three segments — Connectivity and Cable Solutions, Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions and Access Network Solutions. It has a long-term growth expectation of 19.37%.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

NetApp, Inc. (NTAP) : Free Stock Analysis Report

InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (COMM) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research