IBM Cloud Computing Division Drives Revenue

IBM today reported a huge jump in revenue for the first quarter with its cloud computing section being the main drive in seeing an overall increase to $17.7 billion.

It was sales from its cloud computing services, which increased by 21 percent to $6.5 billion in the quarter, that was the real story behind the figures. The more than a century old business intents to divide itself into two public companies, with the IBM part firm focusing on the the hybrid cloud section, which it sees as a $1 trillion market opportunity.

“This is a good start to the year for the company who is all-in on the cloud.”

James Kavanaugh, IBM’s chief Finance officer pointed to the pick up on cloud spending by its clients in manufacturing, travel and retail in the US after the downturn at the beginning of the Covid crisis.

The success of the Cloud Computing division was highlighted by IBM chairman Arvind Krishna , who commented that

“Strong performance this quarter in cloud, driven by increasing client adoption of our hybrid cloud platform, and growth in software and consulting enabled us to get off to a solid start for the year, while we have more work to do, we are confident we can achieve full-year revenue growth and meet our adjusted free cash flow target in 2021.”