IBM’s mainframe division delivered its highest fourth-quarter revenue in more than 20 years, driven by a 61% year-over-year increase in system sales and support. The surge was led by the launch of the z17 family, which IBM engineers to tackle AI workloads at scale: each system can process up to 450 billion AI inferencing operations per day while maintaining sub-1-millisecond response times. In Q4, mainframe software subscriptions and maintenance services grew 48%, reflecting strong enterprise demand for private data-center AI deployments. CEO Arvind Krishna forecast that by 2029–2031, half of global enterprise AI workloads will run on private infrastructure rather than public cloud, positioning IBM to capture a significant share of that market shift.

On January 30, 2026, IBM’s board voted to appoint Ramon L. Laguarta—PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO since 2018—to its board of directors, effective March 1, 2026. At 62, Laguarta brings nearly four decades of leadership in consumer goods, having driven a portfolio transformation at PepsiCo that boosted net revenue growth by an average of 6% annually over the last five years. IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna highlighted Laguarta’s expertise in scaling technology across global operations, noting that his experience managing digital strategies in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and developing markets will help IBM advance its hybrid cloud and AI offerings. Laguarta holds an MBA from ESADE Business School and a Master of Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.