IBM and Intel are working together to add hardware-backed protection to sensitive AI workloads while they run.
The collaboration combines Intel Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) in Xeon Scalable 6 processors with IBM Sovereign Core’s operational controls and governance capabilities. The goal is to help organizations reduce the exposure of privileged data access during processing and retain authority over their AI environments.
The point is safeguarding sensitive information while it is being used, alongside controls governing who can access AI services and how those services operate. IBM said the approach is intended to support organizations handling confidential enterprise data and proprietary AI assets.
“As organizations bring increasingly sensitive AI workloads, data and intellectual property into sovereign environments, they need more than governance and policy controls. They need confidence that those protections extend all the way through processing,” Anand Pashupathy, vice president and general manager of Intel Product Assurance and Security said in a statement.
IBM Sovereign Core provides a customer-operated control plane, identity and access management within a defined sovereign boundary, governed AI services and automated compliance controls. It also continuously keeps logs of activity to show it is working as designed.
Intel TDX adds hardware-backed isolation for selected workloads. Its attestation capabilities can provide information about the execution environment, complementing Sovereign Core’s compliance monitoring and evidence collection.
The combination of the two technologies breaks down into three separate categories: maintaining operational authority over the AI environment, protecting supported workloads during execution and producing evidence about the protections in place. IBM said these capabilities are complementary rather than interchangeable guarantees.
IBM highlighted financial institutions, government agencies, and other highly regulated organizations as potential users. These organizations have to determine which AI models are approved, where inference runs, who can access services and how operations are monitored before deploying workloads involving confidential information.
IBM says Sovereign Core’s modular architecture allows organizations to choose infrastructure, applications, models, and services within their sovereign environments. The combined approach is not intended to prescribe a particular AI stack. Customers can use IBM, third-party, or open-source components and apply additional workload protections according to their requirements.
IBM warned that confidential computing does not replace broader security architecture, access management or compliance processes and attestation alone does not establish regulatory compliance. Organizations must assess where hardware-backed isolation fits their workload sensitivity, threat models and operational needs.
Pricing and general availability were not disclosed.
