IBM is reassuring investors that a software sales slowdown in Q2 was merely a temporary delay caused by customers prioritising AI infrastructure spending, not a sign of permanent demand destruction, with CEO Arvind Krishna noting that a third of the stalled deals have already closed in the first weeks of the new quarter. Wall Street remains sceptical, questioning whether the shift reflects deferred or fundamentally changed spending priorities. Meanwhile, IBM is positioning AI as its next major growth opportunity, notably through Project Lightwell, a new service helping enterprises secure legacy open source software using AI, which has already attracted major financial institutions at $1 million per year.
