IBM’s Heavy-Lifting Playbook: Chips, Legacy Systems, and a 31% Rally
12.06.2026 - 17:05:13 | boerse-global.de
The tech sector is in the midst of a painful recalibration. Intuit has slashed 17% of its global workforce, Microsoft is reportedly bracing for deep cuts across Azure and Xbox, and analysts have even coined the term “SaaSpocalypse” to describe the contraction in cloud and software spending. Yet IBM has remained conspicuously calm — no profit warnings, no mass layoffs. Instead, the company is quietly placing its bets on the unglamorous work of making AI actually run inside the world’s largest enterprises. That bet has already lifted IBM shares 31% over the past 30 days, with the stock trading at €240.05 on Friday and reclaiming ground lost since its May 2026 trough of €181.32.
Much of that optimism stems from a deepened partnership with ServiceNow, announced in June 2026. The two companies are expanding their long-standing alliance to tackle a problem that has become the bane of corporate IT departments: legacy infrastructure that cannot support modern AI workloads without costly rip-and-replace projects. IBM will integrate its watsonx.data platform and Red Hat Ansible automation toolkit directly into ServiceNow’s workflows, aiming to streamline decades-old manual processes. The new solutions are scheduled for release in the second half of 2026. For IBM, this is a deliberate pivot away from the AI feature war — the race for ever-smarter chatbots and faster inference — and toward the messy, revenue-generating reality of hybrid cloud and data management.
At the same time, IBM is anchoring its longer-term future in physical hardware. The company recently secured $1 billion from the US CHIPS Act to build the “Anderon” quantum chip fabrication facility in Albany, New York. IBM is matching that sum with its own capital, part of a broader five-year, $10 billion commitment to quantum computing. The facility sits at the intersection of national security interests and long-cycle industrial investment, insulating IBM from the kind of volatility that has rattled pure-play software stocks. The stock currently sits about 12% above its 50-day moving average and just shy of 2% above the 200-day average, though it remains 18% below the 52-week high of €292.85.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying IBM?
The financials supporting the rally are solid. In its most recent quarter, IBM posted revenue of $15.92 billion, up 9.5% year over year, with earnings per share of $1.91 beating analysts’ expectations. The quarterly dividend of $1.69 per share, paid in June 2026, reinforces the stock’s dual appeal as an income generator and a structural AI bet.
Institutional investors remain split. The Swiss National Bank and Nuveen trimmed their holdings late last year, while Kovack Advisors and Capital Wealth Planning added significantly. Capital Wealth Planning boosted its stake by 12.2%, now holding approximately 2.44 million shares. The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, by contrast, reduced its position by 3.4%.
Wall Street’s consensus target sits at €252.20, roughly 5% above the current price — a modest but stable outlook that suggests patience is the key virtue. The real test will come when the ServiceNow-powered solutions hit the market in the second half of 2026, and as the quantum factory begins to take shape over the coming years. For now, IBM is selling a thesis rather than a headline, and the market is slowly buying in. The most valuable piece of the AI revolution may well be the cables and processors that keep it humming — and IBM is building those right now.
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