IBM and The All England Lawn Tennis Club have signed a multi-year extension of their 36-year technology partnership, reinforcing IBM as the official AI, cloud and digital transformation partner for Wimbledon. The renewal will fund new initiatives to broaden the Championships’ global reach and deepen interaction across the Wimbledon website and mobile application. In 2025, IBM-powered features such as Live Likelihood to Win and Match Chat drove a 16% year-on-year rise in overall engagement, with more than 20 million fans accessing live scores, interactive stats and highlights. The official app alone saw engagement climb by 19% and earned an average 4.9-star rating in app stores. The collaboration has won multiple industry awards, including ‘Sports Organisation of the Year’ at the 2025 Sports Technology Awards, in recognition of its innovative use of AI to transform fan experiences.

Analysts at Jefferies upgraded IBM to a buy recommendation, citing a projected upside of 23.5% based on robust demand for hybrid cloud and AI solutions. Over the past 12 months, IBM shares have outperformed key competitors, delivering a 33% gain versus peer increases of 14.2% for one major rival and 2.9% for another. Jefferies pointed to IBM’s recent acquisition of HashiCorp as a strategic move to bolster multi-cloud infrastructure and AI automation tools. The firm also emphasized IBM’s leadership in quantum computing: the company has introduced a next-generation quantum processor, partnered with Cisco on quantum networking, and is approaching $1 billion in cumulative quantum-technology contract signings. These developments underpin Jefferies’ view that IBM is well positioned to capture growth across its Software and Consulting segments as enterprise digital transformation accelerates.