[Overseas Stocks Spotlight] "Snowflake, Evolving into a Data Sharing Platform"

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Samsung Securities has evaluated Snowflake (SNOW US) as evolving into the most advanced form of data platform, transforming into a data sharing platform.

Snowflake, established in 2012, is a cloud-based data management platform famously invested in by Warren Buffett at the time of its initial public offering (IPO). While Oracle, Teradata, and SAP have traditionally led the database market based on on-premises systems, Snowflake is a representative innovative company that has transformed this into a cloud-based approach.

On the 16th, Han Jugi, a researcher at Samsung Securities, emphasized in a report that attention should first be paid to Snowflake's software competitiveness. The researcher explained, “Unlike traditional data warehouse architectures, Snowflake separates storage and computing, greatly improving performance and optimizing the cost structure, making it an evolved form of data platform.”

Snowflake is also evaluated as evolving into a data sharing platform. The researcher stated, “We are now in an era where data is bought and sold,” adding, “Snowflake began evolving into a data sharing platform with the launch of Snowflake Data Exchange in June 2019, and in the database world, Snowflake is expected to become a marketplace like Amazon.”

Its neutral position in the multi-cloud era is also considered a competitive advantage. Recently, most companies use multiple cloud services for various reasons. The researcher said, “At this time, Snowflake acts as a hub for each database,” and added, “This structure is difficult for the big three cloud providers to imitate due to competitive dynamics,” analyzing that “this independence is Snowflake’s competitiveness.”

However, it is necessary to be cautious about the intensifying competition with Amazon Web Services RedShift, Azure Synapse Analytics, Google BigQuery, and the potential for increased volatility due to the expiration of lock-up periods.