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

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After spending much of the 2010s in the doldrums, 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 speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins on the latest episode of the Bold Names podcast. To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com. Check Out Past Episodes: This CEO Says Global Trade Is Broken. What Comes Next? What This Former USAID Head Had to Say About Elon Musk and DOGE ‘Businesses Don’t Like Uncertainty’: How Cisco Is Navigating AI and Trump 2.0 Why This Tesla Pioneer Says the Cheap EV Market 'Sucks' Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at [email protected] Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Read Christopher Mims’s Keywords column. Read Tim Higgins’s column. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Why are businesses like HelloVet choosing Apple products and services?
0:04.8	So we started the business two years ago.
0:07.2	We had a few people who were used to PCs and this was their first foray into Macs.
0:12.5	But it's been super smooth getting everyone onto those devices and everyone seems really, really happy.
0:18.0	Find out how Mac can help you run and grow your business at Apple.com forward slash
0:23.6	HelloVet.
0:26.0	America used to run on IBM.
0:28.5	It was the backbone of business.
0:31.1	But after getting that jingle stuck in the heads of millions of Americans in the late 1980s, Big Blue lost its swagger.
0:41.5	IBM is getting a lot of attention today.
0:43.6	More now on that big miss for IBM on both earnings and revenue.
0:47.3	It's been a rough go. There's no doubt about it.
0:50.5	IBM spent much of the 2010s in the Daldrums, but has made something of a comeback in the past five years.
0:59.1	That's thanks to a lot of the success in its hybrid cloud business.
1:02.8	They've also leaned heavily into consulting services, all of which has led to a surge in the company's share price.
1:09.3	That's under the leadership of CEO Arvin
1:11.7	Krishna. He took the reins in 2020. And now IBM's looking to the future with quantum
1:18.2	computing, something I saw firsthand earlier this summer. I'm standing outside the Thomas J. Watson
1:24.5	IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. Believe it or not,
1:29.7	this is probably the leading lab in the world for quantum computing research. We're going to go
1:35.3	inside today and see what all of that is a matter. Regular computers are essentially binary. They
1:40.8	make computations using on and off switches.
	...

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