① As the latest technology giant promising a future with Trump, IBM has committed to investing 150 billion USD in the USA over the next five years; ② The company particularly emphasizes that 30 billion USD will be used for research and development of AI mainframes and Computer business; ③ Against the backdrop of technology giants making 'big number' announcements, Trump has granted exemptions from 'reciprocal tariffs' for chips, Smart Phones, computing devices, and components.
On April 28, the Financial Association reported (Editor: Shi Zhengcheng) that after months of exploration, large enterprises in the USA have finally found a way to coexist with Trump — the core essence includes issuing an investment announcement starting at 100 billion dollars.
On Monday local time, the well-established tech company IBM announced that it will invest 150 billion dollars in the USA over the next five years. This includes 30 billion dollars in R&D investment, advancing $IBM Corp (IBM.US)$ the manufacturing business of AI supercomputers and quantum computers in the USA.
IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna also pointed out the intention in the announcement: "Since its establishment 114 years ago, IBM has always focused on employment and manufacturing development in the USA. Through this investment and manufacturing commitment, IBM will ensure that it remains at the core of the world's most advanced computing power and AI capabilities."
It probably started with Son Masayoshi calling out a $500 billion "Stargate" project,$SoftBank Group (9984.JP)$large USA technology companies have all joined the ranks of calling out big numbers.
Previously, $Apple (AAPL.US)$ They announced plans to invest $500 billion in the USA over the next four years.$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$It stated that it would collaborate with a number of suppliers to produce computing infrastructure worth "up to $500 billion" in the USA over the next four years.
Of course, Apple Inc.'s statement was pointed out by several Analysts as "merely normal Operation expenses," and it is not even pure capital expenditure (Apple's capital expenditure for the fiscal year 2024 is only 9.5 billion USD). NVIDIA's actions involve construction of the computing Industry Chain, and expressions like "up to" inherently reflect a lack of confidence.
However, in facing Trump, the emotional value provided by these Technology giants ultimately resulted in tangible benefits. At the end of April, Trump quietly signed an executive order exempting chips, Smart Phones, and Computer Technology equipment and components from the "reciprocal tariffs" list. Although the Trump administration still stated that these products might face other tariffs, there is no doubt that the Technology giants have eliminated the most dangerous situation.
Once this list was released, American media commented that Cook gave the business world a lesson on "how to deal with Trump." This Thursday after the market closes, Apple Inc. will release the latest Earnings Reports, and the market is eagerly anticipating how Cook will evaluate this development.
According to IBM's announcement, the company seems to be preparing to follow NVIDIA's lead and increase the capacity of computing facilities in the USA.
As a competitor, IBM announced earlier this month the launch of the z17 AI mainframe, based on the Telum II processor released at the end of last year, which significantly increases AI inference computing power. The company stated that the z17 can perform over 450 billion inference operations daily, with a response time of 1 millisecond. The main selling point of this machine is still that the user's business data can be retained locally and will not be uploaded to external Servers.
Editor/Rocky
