IBM Japan president Elly Keinan speaking at IBM Think Japan 2018 held June 11-12 in Tokyo, said that while PC and the internet have driven two major technological shifts over the past 50 years, artificial intelligence (AI) will drive the third exponential shift in the next 25 years, with Watson's Law, named by IBM after its cognitive computing flagship to emerge on a par with Moore's Law and Metcalfe's Law.

IBM's cloud and tech service platforms now command the largest revenue contribution ratio at 45 percent, involving a gross margin of 38.2 percent. The firm's Watson AI cognitive solutions follow with 22.54 percent in revenue contribution, with gross margins hitting a high of 76.3percent. In the past year, revenues from sales of Watson solutions in the Japan market shot up seven-fold, Big Blue said.

The just-concluded event attracted the presence of more than 2,500 customers and industry players, with IBM and its cooperative partners jointly showcasing their latest developments and applications in the sectors of cloud, AI and quantum computing, blockchain, and IoT.

Digitimes noted that among major attendees were Japanese firms incorporating IBM's Watson AI technological solutions, including East Japan Railway, robot brand maker Yaskawa, MUFG Bank and Fujifilm.

Also present at the event was Titan Chia, chief technology officer at Taiwan's CTCB Bank, said that his bank has witnessed up to 92 percent of credit transfers done online, and therefore the incorporation of AI and blockchain technologies is badly needed to deal with the drastic changes in banking services.