In 2002, IBM strengthened its business advisory capabilities by acquiring the consulting arm of professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The company has increasingly focused on business solution-driven consulting, services and software, with emphasis also on high-value chips and hardware technologies; as of 2005^[update] it employs about 195,000 technical professionals. That total includes about 350 «Distinguished Engineers» and 60 IBM Fellows, its most-senior engineers. It should be noted, however, that IBM and some other U.S. firms use the term 'engineer' in a broad sense, applying it to technicians from diverse disciplines who may not be graduates from Engineering Schools of recognized Universities.

A chart showing IBM's revenue and net income, 1980–2005.

A chart showing IBM's patent history, 1993–2005.

In 2002, IBM announced the beginning of a US$10 billion program to research and implement the infrastructure technology necessary to be able to provide supercomputer-level resources "on demand" to all businesses as a metered utility.^[15] The program has since then been implemented.^[16]

In the same year its hard disk operations was sold to Hitachi. ^[17]

IBM has steadily increased its patent portfolio since the early 1990s, which is valuable for cross-licensing with other companies. In every year from 1993 to 2005, IBM has been granted significantly more U.S. patents than any other company. The thirteen-year period has resulted in over 31,000 patents for which IBM is the primary assignee.^[18] In 2003, IBM earned 3415 patents, breaking the US record for patents in a single year.^[19]

Protection of the company's intellectual property has grown into a business in its own right, generating over $10 billion dollars to the bottom line for the company during this period.^[20][21] A 2003 Forbes article quotes Paul Horn, head of IBM Research, saying that IBM has generated $1 billion in profit by licensing intellectual property.^[22]

In 2004, IBM announced the proposed sale of its PC business to Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group, which is partially owned by the Chinese government, for US$650 million in cash and US$600 million in Lenovo stock. The deal was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in March 2005, and completed in May 2005. IBM acquired a 19% stake in Lenovo, which moved its headquarters to New York State and appointed an IBM executive, Steve Ward, as its chief executive officer. The company retained the right to use certain IBM brand names for an initial period of five years. As a result of the purchase, Lenovo inherited a product line that features the ThinkPad, a line of laptops that had been one of IBM's most successful products.

As of 2004^[update], IBM had shifted much of its focus to the provision of business consulting & re-engineering services from its hardware & technology focus. The new IBM has enhanced global delivery capabilities in consulting, software and technology based process services—and this change is reflected in its top-line.^[23]

On June 20, 2006, IBM and Georgia Institute of Technology jointly announced a new record in silicon-based chip speed at 500 GHz. This was done by freezing the chip to 4.5 K (−269 °C; −452 °F) using liquid helium and is not comparable to CPU speed. The chip operated at about 350 GHz at room temperature.^[24]. IBM acquires SPSS in July 2009 for $1.2 billion.