IBM (NYSE:IBM) shares rose 1.4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the company disclosed a new strategic collaboration with OpenAI aimed at speeding up secure artificial intelligence deployment for enterprise customers. Under the partnership, OpenAI’s frontier models, including GPT-5.6, Codex, and ChatGPT Work, will be integrated into IBM Consulting’s AI delivery platform that serves business clients. IBM plans to establish a dedicated OpenAI Practice, which will be staffed with thousands of certified consultants and engineers to drive the implementation of the joint solutions. The collaboration is targeting multiple high-value sectors, including financial services, government, telecommunications, and retail, and will also focus on enterprise functions such as finance and human resources. As part of the framework, IBM is joining OpenAI’s Elite partner tier, reflecting a deeper level of engagement between the two organizations. The joint go-to-market approach is intended to embed OpenAI’s technology within IBM’s consulting services, positioning IBM to deliver AI solutions to large enterprises that are looking to deploy advanced AI across their core operations.