Kyndryl Opens First U.S. AI Innovation Lab in Dallas–Fort Worth

Kyndryl on October 1, 2026, announced the opening of its first U.S. AI Innovation Lab, located in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and said it expects the investment to create as many as 300 highly skilled jobs in AI, technology consulting and design engineering over the next four years.

The facility, which Kyndryl calls the AI Innovation Lab in Dallas, is located in Frisco, according to a statement from Frisco Mayor Mark Hill included in the announcement. Hill said Kyndryl could have chosen any market in the United States and described the decision to establish the hub in Frisco as a reflection of the city’s reputation for growth, innovation and talent.

“The future of AI will be built through collaboration, and our AI Innovation Lab in Dallas brings customers together with Kyndryl experts to unlock the full value of AI while strengthening America’s innovation ecosystem,” Jamie Rutledge, President of Kyndryl U.S., said in the announcement. Rutledge said the lab is powered by the Kyndryl Agentic AI Framework together with the company’s consulting, engineering and infrastructure expertise, giving customers a hands-on environment to experiment and turn ideas into outcomes.

Modernization Focus and Lab Method

The Dallas lab will focus on helping customers modernize their technology environments for AI. Kyndryl said its latest modernization research found that 34% of organizations are modernizing to enable AI capabilities, making AI enablement a larger driver of modernization than cost reduction, which 29% of organizations cited. The research also found that AI is increasing demand across cloud, mainframe, network and edge environments.

The lab applies a repeatable method that combines the Agentic AI Framework with Kyndryl Consult, the company’s AI services, infrastructure and engineering expertise, and the design-led transformation practice of Kyndryl Vital. Its four-phase approach — customer immersion, co-design, build and roadmap — puts customers through workshops, rapid prototyping and engineering co-creation alongside Kyndryl experts. Kyndryl said participants validate ideas, design future workflows and can move from exploratory use cases to working prototypes in days, with a defined path from prototype to production.

Kyndryl’s AI Innovation Labs program page describes the engagements as structured two-day sessions. During co-design, customers work with Kyndryl experts on new workflows, agentic operating models and human-to-agent interactions; during the build phase, they create working prototypes, sample agents and redesigned workflows in a low-risk environment. Participants leave with a practical roadmap connecting prototype work to production and prioritizing next steps.

Staffing for the sessions is built around what Kyndryl calls a Forward Deployed Squad of three disciplines: Human Systems Architects, who design how people and AI agents work together; Forward Deployed Engineers, who build working prototypes; and industry experts. The program page lists lab use cases across banking, government, retail, insurance, and travel and transportation, including customer onboarding, fraud detection, contract management, claims handling and irregular operations recovery.

Workforce Development and Public Sector Programs

Kyndryl is partnering with NPower, Dallas AI, Tech Titans and other local organizations to expand access to AI and emerging technology skills, with the goal of creating new career pathways in the region. As an inaugural supporter of NPower’s AI training program, Kyndryl is helping equip learners with practical skills in areas such as prompt engineering and automation.

The lab will be home to a specialized team focused on Kyndryl’s DMV solutions for motor vehicle agencies across the United States. That team will develop reusable code and deployment best practices, apply AI to solution development and testing, and give customers an environment to experience demonstrations of Kyndryl’s DMV capabilities.

The facility will also showcase Kyndryl’s Cyber Defense Operations Center capability, which the company describes as a command hub bringing network and security operations together to provide real-time visibility, monitoring and collaborative analysis across complex IT environments through AI-enabled insights and automation. Kyndryl said experts at the lab will also help customers modernize and secure their IT operations and infrastructure to take advantage of Frontier AI models.

Global Lab Network

Kyndryl said the Dallas lab joins its global lab network, which includes locations in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg; the program page lists labs now open in Dallas, Liverpool and Luxembourg.

The Liverpool lab opened on May 1, 2025, at the Royal Liver Building with a team of AI and software engineering specialists and degree apprentices, and a stated goal of growing that team to as many as 1,000 software engineering and AI-related roles within three years. That site offers advisory and co-creation services led by Kyndryl Consult, includes a Kyndryl Vital Studio, and opened alongside an expanded multiyear agreement with The Very Group, the Liverpool-based operator of the Very and Littlewoods digital retail brands.

Organizations seeking a session register their interest with Kyndryl, which then works with each organization to choose a lab location, define the business challenge and identify the stakeholders who should take part, according to the program page.