IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares tank 13% on Anthropic programming language threat
IBM shares plummeted nearly 13.2% after Anthropic's Claude Code tool threatened its lucrative COBOL modernization business.Summary
International Business Machines (IBM) stock experienced a significant drop, closing down nearly 13.2% at $223.35 per share, making it the latest company impacted by rapid AI advancements. The sell-off followed an announcement by Anthropic that its Claude Code tool can automate the complex analysis required to modernize legacy systems running COBOL, a programming language central to IBM's mainframe business.
COBOL, developed in the late 1950s, powers critical systems, including an estimated 95% of U.S. ATM transactions. Anthropic stated that AI excels at streamlining the tasks that previously made COBOL modernization prohibitively expensive. Claude Code can map dependencies, document workflows, and identify risks much faster than human analysts, effectively flipping the cost equation for legacy code modernization.
This development adds IBM to a list of stocks rattled by AI fears, following a recent dip in cybersecurity stocks after Anthropic introduced a related security scanning capability. The decline brought IBM shares down over 24% year to date.
(Source：CNBC)