Interview with Chetan Krishnamurthy, IBM Asia-Pacific Vice President
The wave of alliances and mergers among companies vying for dominance in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) market is intensifying. As the competition in AI performance shifts to building ecosystems, firms are even willing to 'cooperate with rivals.' IBM has made partnerships itself a survival strategy. The explanation is that to penetrate all customers regardless of industry, company size, or data environment, one must become an 'all-around player.'
Chetan Krishnamurthy, Vice President of IBM Asia Pacific Ecosystem and Digital Sales [Photo by Korea IBM]
Chetan Krishnamurthy, Vice President of IBM Asia Pacific Ecosystem and Digital Sales, cited 'partnerships' as IBM's competitive edge in an interview with Asia Economy at IBM Korea headquarters in Yeouido on the 4th. Krishnamurthy is an industry expert who has overseen AI business such as Watson Business in the Asia Pacific region. Currently, he is responsible for maximizing IBM's sales capabilities by expanding partners in cloud, data, and software (SW).
Krishnamurthy assessed that the AI market is growing increasingly rapidly. Over the past five years, the adoption speed of AI has accelerated about 2.5 times compared to before, and it is expected to grow to a scale exceeding $1 trillion (approximately 1,380 trillion KRW). Korea is also one of the rapidly growing markets. Krishnamurthy said, "It is a market with great interest in new technologies and fast trends," adding, "AI is being applied in various industries, led by finance."
As market opportunities grow, competition is fierce. IBM emphasizes partnerships as its core competitive strength. It forms partnerships at various levels, from large cloud service companies called 'hyperscalers' such as Amazon and Google, to IT service providers like Samsung SDS and LG CNS, and local software developers. Through this, IBM provides its AI technology regardless of the cloud environment or IT system the client company is based on. For example, on the AI platform 'WatsonX,' clients can access all data and work with AI regardless of storage location, whether on in-house servers, single cloud, or multi-cloud. Depending on client needs, they can choose from IBM's large language model (LLM) 'Granite' to Korean language models tuned by Korean startup Minds & Company based on Meta's 'LLaMA 2.'
By removing limitations on technology application, IBM starts sales by helping clients define the goals they want to achieve with AI. Among various application cases created in different industries, clients select their desired goals, and IBM takes charge of building the appropriate data environment and managing AI models accordingly. Krishnamurthy explained, "Unlike other companies that talk about the technical tools they can provide, IBM starts discussions from the goals to be achieved with AI," adding, "Then follows the process of building technology and systems tailored to those goals."
IBM's move toward an open ecosystem in the AI industry aligns with this strategy. IBM has established the global open-source community 'AI Alliance' with over 50 companies and research institutions, including Meta and Intel. Kakao is a member in Korea. Unlike OpenAI or Google, which operate AI models in a closed manner, IBM shares them as open source. Krishnamurthy elaborated, "Through this, we can offer customers flexibility and choice," adding, "They can use various models on a trusted IBM platform."
Based on flexibility, IBM is also targeting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Krishnamurthy emphasized, "We will help companies of various sizes, including SMEs and startups, solve the problems they face and grow rapidly," adding, "Wherever there is data, decision-making speed can be increased and automation implemented."
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