Think 2026: IBM Makes Digital Sovereignty Operational with General Availability of IBM Sovereign Core

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New capabilities help enterprises, governments, and service providers operationalize digital sovereignty with continuous compliance and control across hybrid environments BOSTON, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- At Think 2026, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the general availability of IBM Sovereign Core, a new software platform designed to help organizations build and operate AI-ready sovereign environments and verify their control — giving enterprises and governments an end-to-end approach to digital sovereignty. As AI adoption accelerates, digital sovereignty has become a critical requirement, extending beyond data residency to include control over infrastructure, operations, and AI systems. Organizations must balance maintaining necessary authority with the pace of innovation, while facing increasing scrutiny from regulators, auditors, and boards. Yet most platforms can struggle to provide consistent, auditable answers to these requirements — creating a gap between policy and operational reality. "AI has made sovereignty a runtime requirement, not a policy statement. With IBM Sovereign Core, organizations don't have to choose between deploying AI at speed and verifying their control. Sovereignty shouldn't be a constraint on innovation — with the right software foundation, it's an enabler of it," said Dinesh Nirmal, SVP, IBM Software. Defining Digital Sovereignty for the AI EraIBM defines digital sovereignty across four pillars: Together, these pillars form the foundation of IBM's unified approach to digital sovereignty—bringing control across operations, data, technology, and AI. A Unified Approach for Digital SovereigntyIBM Sovereign Core introduces a new model for operational sovereignty, where governance, compliance, and control are built into the system from the start to enable organizations to scale AI while maintaining their sovereignty, trust, and operational independence. IBM Sovereign Core delivers an integrated sovereign software platform that combines control plane, identity, security, compliance, and AI execution functions operate within a single deployment model. Key capabilities include: Together, these capabilities establish a sovereign control plane that enables organizations to operate environments and verify their control across data, operations, and AI. Continuous, Verifiable ComplianceIBM Sovereign Core en...

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