IBM has introduced IBM Sovereign Core, the industry's first AI-ready sovereign-enabled software, enabling enterprises, governments, and service providers to build, deploy, and manage AI workloads with full operational control and verifiable sovereignty in chosen jurisdictions.
Quick Intel
Organizations worldwide increasingly require control over technology infrastructure amid evolving regulations, auditable governance needs, and heightened concerns around AI workloads. Digital sovereignty extends to operational authority, data access, workload execution locations, and jurisdiction over AI models. Many lack ready solutions to modernize and host applications—including future AI-enhanced ones—under self-managed sovereign conditions with continuous compliance.
Addressing the Sovereignty Imperative IBM Sovereign Core delivers verifiable sovereignty and complete operational independence. Built natively with sovereignty as a core property, it enables organizations to maintain authority without vendor intermediation outside their region. This includes direct control over software operations and configurations, keeping all identity, keys, and access management within jurisdictional boundaries, and generating comprehensive audit trails and telemetry stored locally for ongoing compliance proof.
Governed AI Capabilities For AI workloads, Sovereign Core supports local GPU clusters, inference execution, and agent operations under customer governance, ensuring traceability and oversight while preventing data export to external providers. This approach allows organizations to deploy and manage AI confidently without compromising sovereignty requirements.
"The sovereign AI conversation has focused on data residency, but that's only part of the equation," said Sanjeev Mohan, Principal, SanjMo. "IBM Sovereign Core addresses the harder question: who controls the system and can you prove it to regulators? IBM takes a holistic approach spanning data, operations, technology, and assurance, with continuous monitoring. As AI moves into production, that kind of ongoing accountability becomes non-negotiable."
Flexible Deployment and Partnerships Customers can implement Sovereign Core in their preferred environment—on-premises, supported regional clouds, or via trusted IT service providers—for localized operational independence. IBM's initial collaborations focus on Europe, with Cegeka and Computacenter enabling pre-architected sovereign offerings that accelerate deployment and compliance for clients.
"As organizations navigate increasingly complex compliance and regulatory requirements, we're seeing strong demand for digital platforms and software that allows sensitive data to remain within controlled, compliant boundaries," said Gaetan Willems, VP Cloud & Digital Platforms, Cegeka. "Partnering with IBM to offer a pre-architected solution through our in-country environment enables us to deliver enterprise-ready software to our clients, while allowing them to address local compliance standards."
"With IBM Sovereign Core, we can focus on configuring the software to each client's specific use cases rather than spending months piecing together disparate components and validating sovereignty controls," said Christian Schreiner, Unit Director Cloud, Computacenter. "It can significantly accelerate our time-to-value and let us help clients who previously couldn't consider AI solutions at all."
"Businesses are facing growing pressure to innovate while meeting tightening regulatory requirements and recognizing the importance of controlling how sensitive data and AI workloads are accessed and operated," said Priya Srinivasan, General Manager, IBM Software Products. "This shift is creating an urgent need for sovereign solutions that deliver AI-ready environments. With IBM Sovereign Core, we are helping clients move faster and with confidence— combining openness, compliance, and operational autonomy to meet the demands of the AI era, without the need to sacrifice sovereignty requirements."
IBM Sovereign Core will enter tech preview in February 2026, followed by general availability mid-year with expanded features. Organizations can join the waitlist for the tech preview and access further details through IBM resources.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.
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