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WSJ What’s News

Why IBM's CEO Thinks His Company Can Crack Quantum Computing

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

44K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we’re bringing you an episode of Bold Names, where co-hosts Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins speak to CEOs and business leaders, taking you inside the decisions being made in the C-suite and beyond. In this episode, IBM has made something of a comeback in the past five years under the leadership of CEO Arvind Krishna. That's thanks to a lot of the success in its hybrid cloud business, as well as its consulting services. All of this has led to a surge in the company's share price. Now, IBM is betting that quantum computing will be the next big thing. But will Big Blue succeed against rivals like Microsoft and Google who are racing to make their own quantum breakthroughs? And how is the company learning from its past mistakes with Watson AI? Arvind Krishna joins Christopher and Tim on the Bold Names podcast. To watch the video version of this episode of Bold Names, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:28.9

You got this.

0:33.5

Hey, What's News listeners. It's Sunday, September 21st. I'm Alex Osala for the Wall Street Journal.

0:39.7

This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world.

0:49.6

This week, we're bringing you an episode of WSJ's bold names, where co-hosts Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins speak to CEOs and business leaders, taking you inside the decisions being made in the C-suite and beyond.

1:01.0

In this episode, they are joined by IBM CEO Arvin Krishna.

1:05.0

After spending much of the 2010s in the doldrums, IBM has made something of a comeback in recent years, largely due to the success of its hybrid cloud business and consulting services.

1:15.0

Now, the company is placing a big bet on quantum computing, which it hopes to be commercially viable in the next five years.

1:22.1

Tim and Christopher talked to Krishna about how IBM plans to compete against rivals in the quantum space and how to ensure that it doesn't get there too early.

1:36.1

America used to run on IBM.

1:38.6

It was the backbone of business.

1:43.3

But after getting that jingle stuck in the heads of millions of Americans in the late 1980s, Big Blue lost its swagger.

1:51.0

IBM is getting a lot of attention today.

1:53.0

More now on that big miss for IBM on both earnings and revenue.

1:57.0

It's been a rough go.

1:58.0

There's no doubt about it.

2:00.0

IBM spent much of the 2010s in the Daldrums. and revenue. It's been a rough go. There's no doubt about it. You know, in terms of trying...

2:00.8

IBM spent much of the 2010s in the doldrums, but has made something of a comeback in the past five years.

...

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