IBM stock plunges after AI tool targets its legacy systems
Summary
IBM shares fell over 13% after Anthropic announced an AI tool to modernize COBOL, threatening IBM's legacy systems and highlighting market concerns about AI's impact.
Why It Matters
This event underscores the growing influence of AI technologies on traditional industries, particularly in legacy systems like COBOL, which are crucial for sectors such as banking and insurance. The significant drop in IBM's stock price reflects investor anxiety about the potential disruption caused by advancements in AI, signaling a shift in the tech landscape.
Key Takeaways
- IBM experienced its largest stock drop in over 25 years, falling 13.2%.
- Anthropic's Claude Code tool could significantly reduce the time needed to modernize COBOL systems.
- The announcement has raised concerns about the impact of AI on traditional software and consulting industries.
BUSINESSIBM stock plunges after AI tool targets its legacy systemsReutersFeb. 23, 2026, 10:37 p.m. ETHear this storyView Comments Shares of International Business Machines recorded their steepest daily drop in more than 25 years on Monday, after AI startup Anthropic said its Claude Code tool could be used to modernize a programming language run on IBM systems.IBM shares sank 13.2%, their biggest drop since October 18, 2000.COBOL is a programming language widely used on IBM mainframes across banking, insurance and government systems."Modernizing a COBOL system once required armies of consultants spending years mapping workflows. Tools like Claude Code can automate the exploration and analysis phases that consume most of the effort in COBOL modernization," Anthropic said in a blog post on Monday."With AI, teams can modernize their COBOL codebase in quarters instead of years," it added.Software stocks have been battered in recent months by market fears around the growing capabilities of AI tools, particularly following the launch of plug-ins from Anthropic's large language model Claude, seen as the startup's push to become an application layer.Shares of cybersecurity companies including CrowdStrike and Datadog also slumped on Monday, as investors weighed the potential impact of Anthropic's new security tool on the industry.View Comments Featured Weekly Ad
![[2603.05659] When Rubrics Fail: Error Enumeration as Reward in Reference-Free RL Post-Training for Virtual Try-On](https://arxiv.org/static/browse/0.3.4/images/arxiv-logo-fb.png){kind=logo}