Techniques are provided for caching external data sources for SQL processing. According to an embodiment, a database system receives a query that requires foreign data from an external data source. In response to receiving the query, the database system determines whether the foreign data currently resides in a cache of the database system. In response to determining that the foreign does not currently reside in the cache, the database system retrieves the foreign data from the external data source, maps the foreign data to a column granule of a table, and stores the column granule in the cache. In another embodiment, the database system receives a second query that requires the foreign data. In response to determining that the foreign data is cached with the stored column granule, the database system retrieves the column granule from the cache.