IBM Launches Industry-First AI-Ready Sovereign Software to Tackle Regulatory Demands
RMN Digital Enterprise Technology Desk
New Delhi | Janaury 15, 2026
ARMONK, N.Y. – On January 15, 2026, IBM announced the launch of IBM Sovereign Core, a new software platform designed to help enterprises, governments, and service providers build and manage AI-ready sovereign environments. The software is the first of its kind, aiming to give organizations complete operational authority over their technology infrastructure and AI workloads amidst tightening global regulations.
The move addresses a growing “digital sovereignty imperative,” which IBM defines as extending beyond simple data residency to include control over who operates the environment, how data is governed, and under which jurisdiction AI models run. According to the IBM sources, market research from Gartner predicts that more than 75% of all enterprises will implement a digital sovereignty strategy by 2030.
A Foundation for Operational Autonomy: Unlike traditional approaches that layer security controls onto existing architectures, IBM Sovereign Core is built on Red Hat’s open-source foundation and makes sovereignty an inherent property of the software itself. Key features of the platform include:
- Customer-Operated Control Plane: Organizations maintain direct authority over system configurations and deployments without vendor intermediation.
- In-Boundary Identity and Keys: All encryption keys and access management remain within local jurisdictional boundaries.
- Governed AI Inference: AI model hosting and execution occur under local oversight, ensuring data is not exported to external providers.
- Continuous Compliance: The system automatically generates audit trails and telemetry data within the sovereign boundary to meet regulatory requirements.
Global Reach and Availability: To support local operational independence, IBM is collaborating with international IT service providers, beginning with an initial rollout in Europe. Partners include Cegeka in Belgium and the Netherlands, and Computacenter in Germany. These collaborations are intended to help clients who previously could not consider AI solutions due to strict compliance standards to accelerate their “time-to-value”.
IBM Sovereign Core is scheduled to be available in tech preview starting in February 2026, with full general availability planned for mid-year 2026. Additional capabilities are expected to be introduced at the time of the general release.
