ARMONK, N.Y. — IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is stepping down after nearly 40 years with the computing giant and eight years at its helm.

The company said Thursday that Arvind Krishna will take over as CEO starting April 6. Krishna has been IBM's senior vice-president for cloud computing and cognitive software and also has a long career at the company.

IBM has been trying to revitalize its business to become a leader in cloud technology.

Cloud computing, in which services are delivered over the internet from remote computers, has become a growing portion of IBM's revenue. But the company has been overshadowed by top cloud rivals Amazon, Microsoft and Google in competing to sell its internet-based computing services to businesses.

Rometty will remain IBM's executive chairwoman until the end of the year.

© 2020 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved., source Canadian Press DataFile