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Arvind Krishna
Arvind Krishna IBM
CEO, President & Chairman, IBM Common Stock
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IBM's Krishna on Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy

📅 Jun 09, 2026 Bloomberg Podcasts 10 MIN 1257 VIEWS 26 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says he's excited about the potential uses for quantum computing. Speaking with Romaine Bostick at the Mizuho Technology Conference in New York, Krishna also comments on the Trump administration's investment in the company, the utilization of AI and IBM's profit strategy. -------- Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube Weekdays 7am-6pm ET Saturday & Sunday 7am-10am ET WATCH HERE: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF Follow us on X:   / bloombergradio   Subscribe to our Podcasts: Bloomberg Daybreak: http://bit.ly/3DWYoAN Bloomberg Surveillance: http://bit.ly/3OPtReI Bloo...

What Arvind Krishna said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna reaffirmed that Quantum Advantage using IBM hardware will be achieved by end of 2026 or mid-2026, citing progress with partners like Cleveland Clinic and Oak Ridge. He said early applications will be in materials, lubricants, EV batteries, and small molecule drugs, with rapid improvements in molecule simulation from 5 atoms in June 2025 to 12,000 atoms in April 2026. Krishna detailed a $1 billion federal investment from the Trump administration for a quantum chip foundry open to approved US companies, and expressed confidence the US is ahead of China by a couple of years. On AI, he argued ROI comes from changing business operating models, not just deploying models, citing 10 points of profit synergy in M&A and 60% G&A reduction in IBM's last acquisition. He tripled college hires in 2026 versus 2025, saying total employment won't decrease. He discussed $5 billion Project Light for fixing open-source vulnerabilities, and predicted quantum and cyber returns in 2-3 years.

Key takeaways

  1. Quantum Advantage on IBM hardware will be achieved by end of 2026 or mid-2026, with early signs already visible.
  2. Molecule simulation capability grew from 5 atoms in June 2025 to 12,000 atoms in April 2026, on track for 30,000.
  3. IBM tripled entry-level college hires in 2026 compared to 2025.
  4. IBM took out about 60% of G&A on day one in its last acquisition using AI.
  5. US is ahead of China in quantum by a couple of years, not a decade.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
end of 2026 or halfway through the year timeline for Quantum Advantage using IBM hardware timeline 0:00
5 atoms molecule simulation capability in June 2025 metric 1:33
300 atoms molecule simulation capability in November 2025 metric 1:33
12,000 atoms molecule simulation capability in April 2026 metric 1:33
30,000 atoms target for molecule simulation capability metric 1:33
$1 billion federal government investment for quantum chip foundry commitment 2:59
10 points profit synergy added on day one in M&A using AI metric 5:30
60% G&A reduction on day one in IBM's last acquisition metric 6:49
$5 billion investment commitment for Project Light commitment 8:06

Chapters

  1. 0:00Quantum Advantage timeline
  2. 0:37First quantum use cases
  3. 1:33Molecule simulation progress
  4. 2:59Government investment and foundry
  5. 4:38US vs China in quantum
  6. 5:30AI ROI and operating model
  7. 7:13Workforce impact of AI
  8. 8:33Project Light for security
  9. 9:55Financial outlook and capital

Questions asked in this interview

10
  1. 0:00Are we going to get that?
  2. 0:27Is healthcare the first place that gets it?
  3. 1:18Is there a disconnect between your ambitions and what he's seen from the scientific perspective?
  4. 2:37Obviously, you have a lot of, I guess, quasi competitors in this space also getting involved. Does that accelerate this pace?
  5. 4:35will be there first on quantum?
  6. 4:41You're not concerned about some of the reports that we've heard about some of the progress that we've already seen in China?
  7. 6:45Are you taking that medicine yourself internally?
  8. 8:06And more importantly, is 5 billion going to be enough?
  9. 9:27Or is that something still long term?
  10. 10:22And any plans that maybe go to the market to look for a little bit more?
Interviewer 0:00 ↗
Two years ago, you laid out a relatively ambitious target that we would actually see Quantum Advantage using IBM hardware by the end of 2026 or halfway through the year. Are we going to get that?
Arvind Krishna 0:12 ↗
Absolutely. If I look at what some of our partners like the Cleveland Clinic are getting done, while the national labs like Oak Ridge are getting done, I can already see the early signs of what they're getting out of the progress have made.
Interviewer 0:27 ↗
When we talk about what that progress could mean, not only for the world of business and finance, but as an application through our society. Is healthcare the first place that gets it?
Arvind Krishna 0:37 ↗
I think that materials, or maybe simple molecules are the very first place, maybe magnetic materials, as alternate. So some of these things that are very hard to get. I'll use the word rare as a bit of a pun over there. I think lubricants to maybe get more effective energy. Maybe. But EV batteries and then small molecule drugs are there in the first set, but I also want to be equally excited about what we can do about modeling weather, perhaps, or modeling flows to improve how chemical plants work, maybe aerodynamics to improve how vehicles and airplanes work. These are really, really exciting use cases for us.
Interviewer 1:18 ↗
I am curious, though. I mean, when we talk about actually starting to see some sort of proof of life on Quantum Advantage this year, your own head of research has said that that process might be a little bit more elongated. Is there a disconnect between your ambitions and what he's seen from the scientific perspective?
Arvind Krishna 1:33 ↗
No. So I'll take an example of what's happening on molecule properties. So last summer, June of '25, we could maybe understand a five atom molecule you'd react with. That's not very exciting. You could do that on a piece of paper if you just want to know. Okay, I'm not smarter, but I trust you. Last November, that team could do 300 atom molecule. Okay, so that's great progress, 5 to 300, but you could probably do that on our normal supercomputer. So okay, that's not quantum advantage. This April they did 12,000 atoms. They did a half off a protein called trypsin. I think they're on their way to about 30,000 atoms already. So 5 to 300. Same amount of time 5 to 12,000. One more month 12 to 28,000. It gives you the rate of improvement. Some of it from the hardware. Some of it in algorithmic techniques that people are learning. What can work? By the way, at this size. You can't actually do it any other way.
Interviewer 2:37 ↗
Well, we talk about the commitment that you made to this. You've been invested or committed to invest about $10 billion in this, which I assume is the tip of the iceberg. You got some pretty big backing from the federal government giving you $1 billion. Not that you need it, but certainly a vote of confidence when you start to see the government getting involved. Obviously, you have a lot of, I guess, quasi competitors in this space also getting involved. Does that accelerate this pace?
Arvind Krishna 2:59 ↗
That's what I believe the government investment is for. So if you look at it, it's not so big that it's controlling everything. However, it's a sign of endorsement and it is a signal of them wanting to get speed. Meaning, IBM, you are going to do this. If we commit to do this, will you do it faster? Will you open it up to everybody else. So it's open to the ecosystem. And we said yes because we actually believe an ecosystem is important. And if government investment gets us there a year or 2 or 3 before we might otherwise. Both of those are worth it. And that is what is important about that. The $1 billion investment from the Trump administration is specifically to build up a chip foundry, if you will, quantum chip foundry and long term foundry that we have committed will be open to all comers that are acceptable to the United States. So the three dozen odd companies that are here, we are happy to give them our best technology. The same as we used for ourselves at that level, right? They all get access to.
Interviewer 4:00 ↗
And you say all comers as to what's been approved. This is the idea that this is about furthering the US's aims to make sure that they have an advantage with regards to what gets made, and I would presume so that it doesn't get in the hands of the countries that we don't want it.
Arvind Krishna 4:14 ↗
Well, I think that is easy. I mean, like there have always been restrictions on advanced technologies that you cannot sell that are provided to certain places. I think that is fine. But in a new area, it's really important to be first, both for the economic competitiveness long term but also for national security. I think for those two reasons, it's imperative that we get there first.
Interviewer 4:35 ↗
Do you think the U.S. will be there first on quantum?
Arvind Krishna 4:38 ↗
Absolutely.
Interviewer 4:41 ↗
You're not concerned about some of the reports that we've heard about some of the progress that we've already seen in China?

13 more exchanges in this transcript

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Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Krishna, A. (2026, June 9). IBM's Krishna on Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy [Interview transcript]. Bloomberg Podcasts. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/973730/

MLA

Arvind Krishna. "IBM's Krishna on Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy." Bloomberg Podcasts, 9 Jun. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/973730/.

BibTeX 
@misc{krishna2026_973730,
  author       = {Arvind Krishna},
  title        = {IBM's Krishna on Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Bloomberg Podcasts. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jun},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/973730/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}