Databricks CEO Says Rivalry Spurred Executive Swap at Snowflake

Databricks Inc., a closely held analytics software maker, says competition from his company fueled a high-profile executive departure at rival Snowflake Inc.

“I think we put a lot of pressure on them, and they realized that AI is important,” Chief Executive Officer Ali Ghodsi said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television, referring to the recent departure of Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman. “Snowflake was basically not doing AI whatsoever.”

Slootman stepped aside last month for Sridhar Ramaswamy, a more product-focused leader. Ramaswamy was previously Snowflake’s senior vice president of artificial intelligence and had run an AI-focused startup. “I ...