IBM announced the finalization of its acquisition of HashiCorp, a leading provider of cloud infrastructure automation software. This strategic move positions IBM to significantly enhance its hybrid cloud and AI offerings, empowering businesses to navigate the complexities of modern IT environments with greater agility and security.
“Organizations globally are looking to deploy modern, hybrid cloud-ready apps, which require automated cloud infrastructure at significant scale,” said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Software and Chief Commercial Officer. “With this acquisition, IBM is committed to continuing to invest in and grow the HashiCorp capabilities.”
This acquisition comes at a time when hybrid cloud adoption is accelerating rapidly. Nearly 75% of enterprises are currently leveraging hybrid cloud environments, and the rise of generative AI is expected to fuel further growth. By 2028, generative AI is projected to drive the creation of 1 billion new cloud-native applications. Automating the management and security of this burgeoning infrastructure is crucial, and HashiCorp’s tools provide the necessary capabilities.
HashiCorp’s flagship product, Terraform, is a leading infrastructure-as-code solution that enables developers to define and provision infrastructure across multiple cloud providers using a consistent approach. This aligns perfectly with IBM’s commitment to open source and multi-cloud interoperability.
“HashiCorp has been a pioneer in cloud infrastructure since the earliest days of public cloud,” said Armon Dadgar, CTO and Co-founder of HashiCorp. “I’m excited for HashiCorp to join the IBM family, where there is clear alignment on the vision of enabling hybrid infrastructure for the world’s biggest enterprises.”
The acquisition will also create powerful synergies with other IBM offerings, including Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat OpenShift. Combining Terraform with Ansible allows for seamless automation from infrastructure provisioning to application deployment, while integrating HashiCorp Vault with OpenShift strengthens security and secrets management across hybrid environments.
Furthermore, HashiCorp’s technology will be instrumental in supporting the deployment and scaling of AI workloads, particularly with the anticipated surge in generative AI applications. This complements IBM’s watsonx AI platform and strengthens its overall AI strategy.
With this acquisition, IBM solidifies its position as a leader in hybrid cloud and automation, providing clients with a comprehensive suite of tools to drive innovation and efficiency in the era of generative AI and beyond.
