IBM CEO: $150B Investment Ensures IBM ‘Remains The Epicenter’ Of AI And Innovation
IBM unveils a $150 billion investment in the U.S. to drive manufacturing as the Trump administration pushes for more domestic manufacturing.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said the tech company will invest a whopping $150 billion over the next five years in the U.S. with the goal of ensuring that his company remains a global leader in IT manufacturing and innovation.
“We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago, and with this investment and manufacturing commitment we are ensuring that IBM remains the epicenter of the world’s most advanced computing and AI capabilities,” said CEO Krishna in a statement.
Of the $150 billion investment, more than $30 billion will go towards advancing American manufacturing of mainframe and quantum computers.
The news comes during the same month President Donald Trump announced an aggressive reciprocal tariff policy aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturing. The administration later said semiconductors and other tech components and devices would be exempted from the tariffs.
The latest news from IBM comes after tech giants such as Nvidia and Apple have said they will invest about $500 billion each in America over the next several years.
New IBM z17 Mainframe
In April, IBM unveiled its next generation of the company’s mainframe, IBM z17, which is powered by its new IBM Telum II processor.
IBM’s z17 enables businesses to drive innovation including the ability to process 50 percent more AI inference operations per day than z16, the company said in a statement.
The new mainframe is built to drive business value across industries with a range of AI use cases such as mitigating loan risk, managing chatbot services, supporting medical image analysis or impeding retail crime.
“With z17, we’re bringing AI to the core of the enterprise with the software, processing power, and storage to make AI operational quickly,” said IBM’s Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM Z and LinuxONE, in a statement. “Additionally, organizations can put their vast, untapped stores of enterprise data to work with AI in a secured, cost-effective way.”
IBM Touts US Mainframe Manufacturing
In its $150 billion announcement today, IBM touted its Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based mainframe manufacturing site, saying over 70 percent of the world’s transactions by value run through IBM mainframe manufacturers in America.
IBM said it operates the world’s largest fleet of quantum computer systems, and will continue to design, build and assemble quantum computers in America.
Additionally, IBM’s Quantum Network provides access to IBM’s quantum systems for nearly 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, and is accessed by over 600,000 active users.
IBM’s Recent Financial Earnings
IBM generated a total of $14.5 billion during its latest quarter, up 2 percent year over year.
IBM’s infrastructure division, which includes mainframe computers, reported $2.89 billion in revenue, a decrease of 4 percent year over year.
The company’s software division saw revenue growth of 9 percent year over year to $6.3 billion. Software’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew to $21.7 billion, up 11 percent year over year.
IBM ended the first quarter with $17.6 billion in cash.
