SAS prepares for AI-driven future with planned IPO

SAS Institute, a decades-long pioneer in AI and analytics, is repositioning itself for the generative AI era while preparing for a potential IPO after years as the world’s largest privately held software company. The 47-year-old analytics giant, which turned down a potential $15-20 billion acquisition by Broadcom in 2021, is updating its cloud-native Viya platform with AI agents, copilots, and governance tools while aiming for a public offering in 2026 or 2027.

The big picture: SAS has been developing neural networks and machine learning for over 20 years, long before the current AI boom, giving the company a strong foundation in what CEO Dr. Jim Goodnight now calls “classical AI.”

• The company is adapting to accommodate generative AI capabilities while emphasizing its strengths in operational decision-making through what it terms “agentic AI.”
• SAS is consolidating financial systems and building necessary infrastructure to prepare for a potential IPO within the next 2-3 years.

What they’re saying: Dr. Goodnight downplays some of the hype around generative AI, describing it simply as predicting the next most probable word in a sequence.

• “People are spending millions and millions of dollars trying to figure out what’s the next word in a sentence,” Goodnight quipped during the company’s recent SAS Innovate conference.
• He contrasts this with SAS’s focus on agentic AI, which he describes as “programs that help you make a decision” — giving the example of a thermostat as a simple agentic system.

Market positioning: SAS is refreshing its cloud-native Viya platform, originally released in 2016, with AI agents, copilots, synthetic data tools, and built-in AI governance features.

• The company sees growing customer interest in synthetic data for AI training, assistance with large language models, and AI governance solutions.
• These developments come as SAS positions itself at the intersection of its traditional analytics strengths and newer AI capabilities.

Why this matters: SAS’s potential IPO would mark a significant shift for a company that has remained private throughout its 47-year history, potentially giving it new capital to compete in the increasingly crowded AI market.

• The company’s emphasis on governance and responsible AI deployment reflects growing concerns about AI risks in enterprise contexts.
• SAS’s evolution demonstrates how established analytics companies are adapting their business models to accommodate the rapid advancement of generative AI technologies.