SAS marks 50 years as technology leader based in Cary

SAS marked its 50th anniversary this week, WRAL reported, five decades in which the company grew from a North Carolina academic research project into what WRAL called "one of the world's leading data and artificial intelligence companies." The Cary-based company now operates in more than 150 countries. Per WRAL, the anniversary drew formal recognition from elected officials: a U.S. Capitol flag was flown in SAS's honor, Rep. Deborah Ross entered remarks into the Congressional Record, and North Carolina Governor Josh Stein sent a letter recognizing the company's contributions to innovation, education, workforce development and community impact. SAS's own announcement, made in April 2026 at its SAS Innovate conference, states the company was incorporated in 1976 out of North Carolina State University research, has more than 50,000 customers including most of the Fortune 100, and has remained debt-free throughout its history. "From the very beginning, our goal was simple: help people make better decisions they can trust," said co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight. "Technology has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, but our commitment to trust, accountability and respect for people has not."

SAS frames its next chapter around AI governance, agentic systems and its unified SAS Viya platform. "The next era of innovation will belong to companies that can combine powerful AI with governance, transparency and accountability," said Bryan Harris, SAS's Chief Technology Officer. Andy Hayler, CEO of analyst firm The Information Difference, credited the company's staying power to consistently evolving its technology while retaining an unusually loyal customer base, calling that "particularly relevant as organizations scale their AI initiatives, which depend heavily on trusted data." SAS also highlighted its academic ties, noting it helped establish the world's first Master of Science in Analytics degree at NC State University in 2007, a model since replicated at other universities, and that it now partners with more than 300 colleges and universities worldwide.

SAS's continued emphasis on governed, auditable AI, rather than a pure model-race pitch, is a useful signal for data teams evaluating enterprise AI vendors: it reflects a broader industry shift toward provenance, transparency and human oversight as differentiators, particularly for regulated industries like banking, insurance, health care and government where SAS has historically been strong. The anniversary also serves as a reminder that SAS's dominance in traditional statistical analytics (SAS programming, SAS/STAT) still underpins large legacy codebases that data professionals continue to maintain even as newer Python- and R-based tooling has gained ground elsewhere.