IBM Research
IBM Research invents what's next in computing, advancing technology through breakthrough science in semiconductors, AI, quantum computing, and hybrid cloud to transform business and society.
At a Glance
- Enterprise corporations
- Financial services and banking
- Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
- Government and defense
- +6 more
AI Tools by IBM Research
(4)
IBM watsonx Orchestrate
AI Agent Workflow Orchestrator
IBM Granite Playground
IBM Granite Models Playground
Project Bob
AI Powered IDE for Enterprise
Cuga Agent
Open Source Enterprise Agent Framework
Discussions
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Latest News
IBM Introduces New Software to Address Growing Digital Sovereignty Imperative
Datavault AI Expands IBM Collaboration to Deploy Enterprise-Grade AI at the Edge
IBM and Cisco Announce Plans to Build Network of Large-Scale, Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers
IBM and University of Dayton Announce Joint Research Collaboration for Next-Generation Semiconductor Technologies
Products & Services
Next generation enterprise studio for AI builders to train, validate, tune and deploy AI models including Granite foundation models
Cloud-based quantum computing platform providing access to 100+ qubit processors with administration, analytics, and learning tools
Open-source quantum software development kit for running workloads on IBM quantum processors
Enterprise-focused foundation models trained on 12 trillion tokens in 12 languages for RAG, summarization, and entity extraction
Market Position
IBM Research is the world's largest industrial research organization with 12 labs globally and 3,000 researchers. Key differentiators include: 6 Nobel Prizes and 6 Turing Awards; leadership in quantum computing with utility-scale systems and path to quantum advantage by 2026; enterprise-focused open AI models (Granite) outperforming competitors in their weight class; 2nm chip fabrication capabilities; 25+ years as patent leader; deep integration with enterprise systems (Z, Power, mainframes); focus on trustworthy, sovereign, and explainable AI for regulated industries.
Leadership
Founders
Thomas J. Watson Sr.
IBM founder and namesake who established the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory
Wallace Eckert
Scientist who co-founded the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University in 1945
Executive Team
Jay Gambetta
Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow
Quantum computing expert who became Director effective October 1, 2025
Darío Gil
Former Director of IBM Research (until September 2025)
Served as Director of IBM Research; sworn in as Under Secretary for Science and Innovation at U.S. Department of Energy on September 26, 2025
Board of Directors
Founding Story
IBM Research began in 1945 as the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University, the first corporate pure-science research facility in the U.S. with an unusual mandate to 'explore science, forget profits' and advance knowledge through collaboration without commercial pressure. The lab was staffed initially with a team of 20 researchers.
Business Model
Revenue Model
IBM Research operates as an internal R&D division funded by IBM Corporation's revenues (IBM annual R&D spending ~$7.5-8B). Research outputs are commercialized through IBM products and services including API usage (Quantum), subscriptions (watsonx), licenses, and consulting services.
Pricing Tiers
10 minutes of quantum runtime per month
Minimum purchase 1 second, billed per second of quantum computer usage
Minimum purchase 400 minutes per year, annual subscription
Minimum purchase 5200 minutes per year, large-scale quantum compute capacity
Dedicated on-premises quantum system serviced and maintained by IBM Quantum
Target Markets
- Enterprise corporations
- Financial services and banking
- Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
- Government and defense
- Telecommunications
- Manufacturing and Industry 4.0
- Enterprise AI (RAG, summarization, entity extraction)
- Application modernization (COBOL to Java conversion)
- Quantum computing for optimization and simulation
- Climate and geospatial modeling (flood damage, deforestation tracking)
- Business process automation on mainframes
- Quantum-safe cryptography for post-quantum security
- Cleveland Clinic
- RIKEN
- Yonsei University
- Basque Government