IBM Joins Tech Giants Pouring Billions into US Production

Big Blue is doubling down on red, white, and blue.

IBM is booting up its domestic production, setting aside $150 billion to make computers in the US over the next five years. The investment is the latest in a string of similar pledges, as tech companies react to President Trump’s tariff threats. Apple and Nvidia both said they’d spend $500 billion on domestic manufacturing over the next four years, and Nvidia said it’ll produce all of its AI supercomputers in the US. 

114 Years Young

Founded over a century ago, IBM’s main business has shifted over time. The company was always involved in making data-processing machines, and early on, that meant automated punch-card counters. Later, it became computers.

IBM was the No. 1 computer-maker globally in the 1960s, producing 70% of the world’s supply. It specialized in mainframes, hulking pieces of equipment used by businesses for handling large data loads. Though IBM was positioned to dominate the personal-computer market, and briefly did, it exited the PC biz in the early 2000s after losing market share to competitors like Apple.

Since then, IBM has gone back to its roots serving businesses, but it’s also looking to the future.

• IBM’s $150 billion investment includes $30 billion it said it’ll set aside for making mainframes and quantum computers. The tech giant says it operates the world’s largest fleet of quantum computing systems — advanced devices that promise performance thousands of times faster than traditional computers. Critics, however, aren’t confident about when quantum computing will be practical for companies to use.
• While quantum is still relatively nascent, IBM is also bringing its old school mainframes into the 21st century. The company recently announced a new mainframe that will support AI capabilities. 

Say it Loud: Tech companies are actively promoting their planned investments into domestic production, and that could be on purpose to get in Trump’s good graces. POTUS has rolled out high tariffs that could jack up the prices of imported materials needed to produce tech products, but he has also been making exemptions that include semiconductor chips, smartphones, and computers. Bloomberg reports that many tech companies’ announcements are in line with what they already planned to spend before Trump was elected — they may simply be more inclined to talk about it now.