When IBM disclosed its preliminary second-quarter results, it noted that enterprise customers have recently shifted more of their budgets toward servers and memory, while also reassessing their investments in cybersecurity. This statement contributed to a general rise in the U.S. cybersecurity sector on Tuesday.
AI drives customers to reassess their security budgets
Arvind Krishna told CNBC that, as the quarter neared its end, some large transactions were temporarily put on hold. The reason was not that companies were abandoning software purchases, but that, following the rapid evolution of next-generation AI models, customers paused to assess security risks before deciding on the pace of future investments.
He noted that with the emergence of advanced models like Anthropic’s Mythos, corporate concerns about escalating cyberattacks have significantly intensified, prompting companies to reassess how much they should invest in cybersecurity.
Several cybersecurity stocks rose during intraday trading.
- Okta, Netskope, and CrowdStrike rose approximately 10%.
- SailPoint, Zscaler, and SentinelOne rose approximately 8%.
- Palo Alto Networks rose approximately 7%.
Market reactions indicate that investors are viewing changes in corporate security budgets as the next area of benefit following the expansion of AI infrastructure. Previously, companies related to servers, chips, and data centers were the first to benefit from increased AI spending.
Corporate IT budgets are being reallocated.
IBM also noted that it has not yet seen its software business directly impacted by AI, but customers have indeed delayed signing some new deals due to security concerns.
This statement reflects a realignment of enterprise IT budgets. In the short term, some customers are prioritizing increased investment in computing power, including servers and memory; cybersecurity demands have not disappeared but are entering a phase of reassessment.