Arvind Krishna rebuilt IBM around hybrid cloud and AI

Arvind Krishna has spent his entire career at IBM. He joined its research lab in 1990 with a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, after studying at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Three decades later, in April 2020, he became the company’s chief executive, and he later added the role of chairman.

The Red Hat bet

Before becoming CEO, Krishna ran IBM’s cloud and software business and its research division. He was a principal architect of IBM’s $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, the open-source software company, completed in 2019. The deal gave IBM a central role in hybrid cloud: helping large companies run software across their own data centers and multiple public clouds.

A narrower IBM

As CEO, Krishna made IBM smaller and more focused. In 2021 the company spun off its managed infrastructure services business as Kyndryl, leaving IBM concentrated on software, consulting and infrastructure such as mainframes. IBM added HashiCorp, a maker of cloud infrastructure software, in 2025.

AI for business

In 2023 IBM launched watsonx, its platform for companies to build and govern AI models on their own data. Krishna has positioned IBM as an AI supplier for regulated industries, such as banks and governments, that care as much about control and auditability as about raw model performance. IBM also continues to invest heavily in quantum computing.

What to watch

IBM’s software growth, the pace of its AI and automation business, and whether its quantum roadmap turns into commercial products are the measures of Krishna’s strategy.

Company

IBM

Role

Chairman & CEO

HQ

Armonk, New York

Founded

1911

Section

Cloud

This profile draws on public reporting and company materials.

Sources: Technology Magazine, February 2026 · World Economic Forum: Arvind Krishna · Wikipedia: Arvind Krishna

Photo: Bea Phi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)