IBM insists AI didn't kill software deals, just delayed them

The Register · 2 months ago · 19

IBM claimed its Q2 software revenue decline resulted from customers temporarily prioritizing AI infrastructure spending rather than abandoning software purchases, with executives noting about one-third of delayed large deals had already closed in the first three weeks of Q3. The company launched Project Lightwell, an AI service to fix security vulnerabilities in legacy open source code, priced at $1 million per year with early customers including major banks and financial firms. IBM is positioning AI-assisted software maintenance as a new multibillion-dollar business opportunity to offset near-term software revenue weakness.