IBM is on track to get nearly a third of its business from emerging markets in five years, according to a senior executive, cementing a historic shift that has already helped the US computing group to brush off economic uncertainty in the developed world.

The transition was confirmed in the company’s latest earnings last week, which brought a further spurt to a rally that has made Big Blue one of the best-performing large stocks this year. Its shares have risen 18 per cent, compared with a 13 per cent fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which it is a part.