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Arvind Krishna
Arvind Krishna IBM
CEO, President & Chairman, IBM Common Stock
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IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Talks Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy | Bloomberg Talks

📅 Jun 09, 2026 Bloomberg Podcasts 11 MIN 132 VIEWS 41 SEGMENTS · 4 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. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information. Bloomberg Talks curates top interviews from around Bloomberg News. Hear conversations with the biggest names in finance, politics and entertainment. On Bloomberg Talks, we round up interviews with Fortune 500 CEOs,...

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 his commitment to achieving quantum advantage using IBM hardware by the end of 2026, citing early progress from partners like Cleveland Clinic and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He identified materials science, lubricants, EV batteries, small molecule drugs, weather modeling, and aerodynamics as initial use cases. Krishna detailed rapid improvements in molecule simulation, from 5 atoms in June 2025 to 12,000 atoms in April 2026, and projected 30,000 atoms soon. He discussed a $1 billion federal investment for a quantum chip foundry open to approved US companies, and expressed confidence the US leads China by a couple of years. On AI, he advocated for using models to transform business operations, citing a 10-point profit synergy gain in M&A and a 60% reduction in G&A from IBM's last acquisition. He tripled entry-level college hiring in 2026 versus 2025, arguing AI changes workforce shape without reducing total employment. He described Project Lightwell, a $5 billion cybersecurity initiative to fix vulnerabilities, and predicted significant returns from quantum and cyber within two to three years.

Key takeaways

  1. Quantum advantage using IBM hardware will be achieved by end of 2026.
  2. Molecule simulation capability grew from 5 atoms in June 2025 to 12,000 atoms in April 2026, heading to 30,000.
  3. IBM tripled entry-level college hiring in 2026 compared to 2025.
  4. IBM cut 60% of G&A on day one in its last acquisition using AI tools.
  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 Target for quantum advantage using IBM hardware timeline 0:35
5 atoms Molecule size simulated in June 2025 metric 2:24
300 atoms Molecule size simulated in November 2025 metric 2:42
12,000 atoms Molecule size simulated in April 2026 metric 2:58
30,000 atoms Projected molecule size simulation capability metric 2:58
$1 billion Federal government investment for quantum chip foundry commitment 3:27
10 points Profit synergy gain from AI in M&A on day one metric 6:21
60% Reduction in G&A on day one in IBM's last acquisition metric 7:41
$5 billion Investment commitment for Project Lightwell commitment 8:56

Chapters

  1. 0:00Quantum advantage target
  2. 1:28First quantum use cases
  3. 2:24Molecule simulation progress
  4. 3:27Government investment and foundry
  5. 5:28US vs China in quantum
  6. 5:51AI ROI and business transformation
  7. 7:49Workforce impact of AI
  8. 8:56Project Lightwell cybersecurity
  9. 10:18Financial outlook and capital

Questions asked in this interview

11
  1. 0:35Are we going to get that?
  2. 1:16When 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?
  3. 2:08Is there a disconnect between your ambitions and what he's seen from the scientific perspective?
  4. 3:27When 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?
  5. 5:28Do you think the US will be there first on quantum?
  6. 5:32You'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. 7:38Are you taking that medicine yourself internally?
  8. 7:49What's the message though that you have not only for your partners but also internally for your own workforce with regards to how this actually not only helps but maybe the idea that maybe it requires a smaller headcount?
  9. 8:56But talk about why that's necessary and more importantly, is 5 billion going to be enough?
  10. 10:18Is there a sense here when we talk about the potential for an acceleration in revenue growth, the widening of profit margins, that that is something that is imminent or is that something still long-term?
  11. 11:13Any plans to maybe go to the market to look for a little bit more?
Bloomberg Audio Studios 0:02 ↗
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.
Joe 0:08 ↗
Roma brings us a very important conversation right now against the backdrop of this market. Roma Bostic at the Missouo Tech Conference underway right now in New York with the CEO of IBM. This is live on Bloomberg. Roma, take it away.
Roma Bostic 0:25 ↗
Thank you Joe. I am here with the CEO of IBM, Arvind Krishna, here at the Missouo Technology Conference in lower Manhattan. Great to have you here.
Arvind Krishna 0:33 ↗
Pleasure to be here with you, Roma.
Roma Bostic 0:35 ↗
Obviously, all the talk is about AI. We talk about digital AI, biological AI, physical AI. Everyone's already looking around the corner, including you, to quantum, which of course many people think is going to be the next big thing. Something that IBM has been working on for years. 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. We're halfway through the year. Are we going to get that?
Arvind Krishna 1:03 ↗
Absolutely. If I look at what some of our partners like the Cleveland Clinic are getting done, what the national labs like Oak Ridge are getting done, I can already see the early signs of the progress they've made.
Roma Bostic 1:16 ↗
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 1:28 ↗
I think that materials or maybe simple molecules are the very first place, maybe magnetic materials as alternates for 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 better EV batteries, and then small molecule drugs are there in the first set. But I also want to be equally excited about what we could 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.
Roma Bostic 2:08 ↗
I am curious though. 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 2:24 ↗
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 react with that, that's not very exciting. You could do that on a piece of paper if you're smart enough.
Roma Bostic 2:40 ↗
Okay. I'm not smart enough, but I trust you.
Arvind Krishna 2:42 ↗
Last November, that team could do a 300-atom molecule.
Roma Bostic 2:47 ↗
Okay.
Arvind Krishna 2:47 ↗
You'll say that's great progress. 5 to 300, but you could probably do that on a normal supercomputer. So, okay, that's not quantum advantage. This April, they did 12,000 atoms. They did half of a protein called Tryson. I think they're on their way to about 30,000 atoms already. So 5 to 300, same amount of time. 300 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 of what can work. By the way, at this size, you can't actually do it any other way.
Roma Bostic 3:27 ↗
Okay. Well, we talk about the commitment that you've made to this. You've 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 3:52 ↗
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. Or IBM, you're 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 two or three before we might otherwise, both of those are worth it. And that is what is important about that.
Roma Bostic 4:27 ↗
The $1 billion investment from the Trump administration is specifically to build up a chip foundry, if you will, a quantum chip foundry.
Arvind Krishna 4:35 ↗
A quantum 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 use for ourselves at that level.
Roma Bostic 4:51 ↗
Right. That they all get access to. 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 to have.
Arvind Krishna 5:07 ↗
Well, I think that is easy. I mean, there have always been restrictions on advanced technologies that you cannot sell it or provide it 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.

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Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Krishna, A. (2026, June 9). IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Talks Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy | Bloomberg Talks [Interview transcript]. Bloomberg Podcasts. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/973732/

MLA

Arvind Krishna. "IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Talks Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy | Bloomberg Talks." Bloomberg Podcasts, 9 Jun. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/973732/.

BibTeX 
@misc{krishna2026_973732,
  author       = {Arvind Krishna},
  title        = {IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Talks Quantum Advantage, Profit Strategy | Bloomberg Talks},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Bloomberg Podcasts. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jun},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/973732/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}