IBM doubles down on hybrid cloud with $6.4B HashiCorp acquisition

What IBM gains from HashiCorp acquisition

IBM’s acquisition of HashiCorp strengthens the company’s play in the hybrid cloud and DevOps market. HashiCorp’s well-regarded open source tools, particularly Terraform, bolster IBM’s portfolio and provide a path to attract a wider developer base, potentially fostering further innovation, said Prabhu Ram, head for Industry Intelligence Group at CyberMedia Research (CMR).

Combining IBM’s existing cloud solutions with HashiCorp’s infrastructure automation tools is expected to create a robust platform for managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments. “Our strategy at its core is about enabling companies to innovate in the cloud while providing a consistent approach to managing cloud at scale. The need for effective management and automation is critical with the rise of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud, which is being accelerated by today’s AI revolution,” Armon Dadgar, HashiCorp co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a statement.

Notably, HashiCorp’s multicloud focus aligns with the market’s increasing demand for flexibility, said CMR’s Ram backing the move. “By integrating these capabilities with its established customer base, IBM can create significant cross-selling opportunities. The combined entity positions IBM as a more comprehensive player in a fiercely competitive landscape, addressing the needs of both traditional infrastructure and emerging AI-driven workloads.”