IBM Z’s decade of growth finds new footing as hybrid AI infrastructure becomes cornerstone
As AI accelerates across every layer of the enterprise, the mainframe is undergoing its most consequential redesign in decades — and hybrid AI infrastructure has found itself decidedly at the center of conversations.
IBM Corp. has spent years embedding AI directly into its hardware platforms, positioning IBM Z —its flagship line of mainframe computers — and its storage portfolio as the foundational layer for hybrid AI workloads that enterprises cannot afford to move to the public cloud. The combination of sovereign data requirements, agentic AI adoption and a decade of sustained Z growth has now placed IBM infrastructure in an unlikely position: one of the fastest-growing bets in enterprise technology, according to Ric Lewis (pictured), senior vice president of the Infrastructure Division at IBM.
“It couldn’t be more fun right now,” Lewis said. “The industry is as exciting as I’ve ever seen it in my entire career. Every boardroom is having a conversation around, ‘What are you doing on AI? What’s the plan? What’s the infrastructure that underlies that?’ The conversation has changed radically in just the last 18 months with agentic and how quickly that’s changing everything.”
