FinOps X, the FinOps Foundation’s annual conference for practitioners, took place last week in San Diego, California. With more than 60 companies as sponsors and 2,000 attendees, this year’s conference broke all previous records.
This year was my fourth FinOps X, and witnessing the growth of this community has been truly remarkable. J.R. Storment, Executive Director of the FinOps Foundation, shared the evolution of FinOps during the Day 1 Keynote. Two significant milestones and ongoing themes to watch are the expansion of the FinOps scope in 2024 and FinOps for AI in 2025. Continue reading this FinOps X 2025 recap to dive into each of these themes a bit further.
FinOps is a Cloud+ practice
Last year, the FinOps Foundation declared that FinOps had grown beyond public clouds to encompass SaaS, Licensing, Data Center, and Private Cloud (and now AI in 2025). A FinOps Scope is defined as “a segment of technology-related spending to which FinOps practitioners apply FinOps concepts.”
Building on the community’s interest in expanding FinOps, the FinOps Foundation announced a strategic relationship with the ITAM Forum last week. This reinforces the notion that FinOps is becoming the standard practice for managing technology spend.
Additionally, the FinOps X 2025 Day 1 Keynote showcased FOCUS 1.2, which embodies the Cloud+ era of FinOps by combining SaaS and PaaS billing data into the same structure as cloud spend. The top cloud providers, including AWS and Google Cloud, reaffirmed their commitment to FOCUS during their keynote segments. FOCUS is still a hot topic, with practitioners increasingly asking what value it can deliver for them and their business.
The future is Cloud+ and Ternary is on board. We are building Ternary as an open data platform for technology spend management. Read our latest press release to learn more. Ternary CEO and FinOps Foundation Governing Board member Sasha Kipervarg describes our company’s vision this way:
At Ternary, we are committed to meeting the evolving needs of FinOps practitioners, especially as interest grows in applying FinOps principles to Cloud+ environments. By delivering accurate, timely, and actionable cost data, we will empower organizations to make informed decisions, improve accountability, and gain control over spending.
The collective push toward AI adoption
As expected, AI dominated the conversation at this year’s FinOps X. With mounting pressure to define and execute AI strategies, organizations around the world are racing to get started.
Our co-founders, Sasha Kipervarg and Joshua Kwan, presented a breakout session highlighting Ternary’s own AI journey, drawing a packed room. A live audience poll revealed that most attendees are either in the R&D phase or already running AI in production. Although AI-related spending remains relatively low today, it’s poised to surge within the next few years.
Mike Fuller, CTO of the FinOps Foundation, emphasized that FinOps for AI mirrors FinOps for Cloud. The same principles and components of the FinOps Framework still apply. The Day 2 Keynote featured insights from leading enterprises like Workday, PepsiCo, and Wayfair, and introduced the FinOps Foundation’s new four-part FinOps Certification for AI. Based on our conversations at the event, practitioners are exploring the vendor landscape and keeping their eyes on solutions that will help them manage AI spend as adoption increases.
Whether you attended the event or you’re just starting to consider how FinOps can further your Cloud+ goals, we hope you found this FinOps X 2025 recap helpful.
P.S. Save the date for FinOps X 2026, June 8-11, back in San Diego.
Discover how Ternary is advancing technology spend management.
