Anthropic's Claude Code Update Triggers Significant Decline in IBM Stock Price, Shares Fall 13.2% in a Single Trading Day

IBM Stock Plunges 13.2% on Anthropic's Claude Code Update

IBM shares fell to their lowest level in nearly three decades, dropping 13.2% to $223.35 per share on Monday, in response to an update from artificial intelligence company Anthropic regarding its Claude Code tool.

The decline marks IBM's worst day since 2000, as the AI startup revealed that Claude Code can now be used to automate the exploration and analysis of Cobol, a dated programming language that is run on IBM computers. Cobol is used to power critical systems in finance, airlines, and government, and Anthropic's update suggests that Claude Code can help modernize Cobol codebases.

Anthropic's blog post highlighted the potential of Claude Code to streamline tasks that have made Cobol modernization cost-prohibitive. The tool can map dependencies across thousands of lines of code, document workflows, and identify risks that would take human analysts months to surface. This news has sparked fears that artificial intelligence will disrupt the growth of big tech companies, with IBM being the latest victim.

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IBM's mainframe business remains a significant contributor to its revenue, with many customers relying on these massive servers to run applications on Cobol. The company's shares have fallen 27% in February, on track for its biggest one-month slide since at least 1968, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.