On Wednesday, IBM reported its quarterly earnings, revealing that while the company still generates significant revenue—$17.2 billion in revenues and $9.9 billion in gross profit—the outlook isn't rosy. Revenue in IBM's critical 'infrastructure' category took a hit, with mainframe sales down by 42%.

The explanation? Not a terminal illness for the mainframe, but an unexpected detour: clients chose to splurge on other hardware instead, citing astronomically high cost increases due to the AI boom. CEO Arvind Krishna insists that despite this quarter’s setback, demand will rebound as customers inevitably return to their mainframes.

However, the tech industry has predicted the demise of mainframes for decades: maybe this time, it's different, or perhaps AI won't be enough to shift the paradigm. IBM remains optimistic, pointing out that some clients have already signed up for new contracts.

The silver lining? This could be a temporary blip rather than a long-term trend, with CFO Jim Kavanaugh predicting that the market will eventually stabilise and mainframe sales will recover as budgets realign.