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Miami Herald
29-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
IBM unveils $150B US investment in tech manufacturing, quantum computers
IBM announced Monday it plans to invest at least $150 billion over the next five years in American manufacturing to advance IBM's mainframe and quantum computer systems. 'We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago,' Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of International Business Machines Corp., said in a release. 'And with this investment and manufacturing commitment, we are ensuring that IBM remains at the epicenter of the world's most advanced computing and AI capabilities.' The Poughkeepsie-based company said Monday its investment in the United States will help fuel the economy and accelerate the country's role as a global computing leader. IBM reported $14.54 billion last week in better-than-expected revenue in its first quarter, above its projected $14.4 billion versus the same quarter last year, which saw IBM's net income narrow to a little more than $1.5 billion. IBM officials said the company operates the 'world's largest fleet of quantum computer systems,' and will continue to build and assemble on American shores. Meanwhile, its infrastructure division, which includes IBM's mainframe computers, managed to to post nearly $2.90 billion in first quarter earnings beating its $2.76 billion mark. The announcement arrived weeks after President Donald Trump unleashed sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs in a strategy the administration believes will boost U.S. manufacturing. Trump, however, later exempted chips, computers, smartphone and other tech parts as a coalition of 12 states sued the Trump administration over its 'illegal tariffs.' In 2020, a team of Chinese scientists achieved what was described as 'quantum supremacy' when a new type of quantum system was able to best the performance of a supercomputer at one task. IBM says quantum computing signals 'one of the biggest technology platform shifts and economic opportunities in decades,' and that it will 'solve problems that today's conventional computers cannot solve.' Chipmaker company Nvidia, an IBM competitor, announced this month it would manufacture its new Nvidia AI supercomputer entirely in the United States in a similar push. Former President Joe Biden in 2022 issued federal directives to 'lay the groundwork for continued American leadership' regarding quantum computing. On Monday, IBM's CEO wrote that technology 'doesn't just build the future, it defines it.' Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IBM must face discrimination claim from White male worker, judge says
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. IBM must face a former worker's charge that it discriminated against him for being a White male, a Michigan district court judge determined Wednesday (Dill v. International Business Machines Corp.). The former employee in IBM's consulting division alleged that despite consistently positive reviews, the company suddenly placed him on a performance improvement plan in July 2023 and then terminated him in October. He contended the reasons used — that he was not bringing in work or meeting client demand — were a pretext to fire him in order to further IBM's diversity goals. The pretext argument had merit, Judge Hala Jarbou determined, because the structure of IBM's diversity program may have incentivized his managers to discriminate against White males, she said. With DEI increasingly becoming a compliance issue for employers, the lawsuit against IBM shows how courts may consider certain kinds of programs to be potentially discriminatory. For example, Jarbou noted that IBM's program went beyond a diversity aspiration or goal. The plaintiff 'allege[d] that IBM's CEO set specific percentage targets for the racial and gender composition of IBM's workforce and then IBM implemented a system of financial incentives to reward executives who worked to achieve those targets,' according to the lawsuit. 'IBM's CEO also suggested that executives who did not make progress could be penalized by being fired or having their pay reduced.' While IBM argued that the incentive plan only applied to executive employees, Jarbou said the company's corporate documents did not define 'executive' and could potentially apply to 4,000 workers who fall within that designation. Jarbou also noted that IBM's reason for termination — having a 'low-utilization rate' — was not unusual, with the same situation allegedly applying to more than half of employees in his division. In addition, the new expectations imposed on the worker in the performance improvement plan 'were apparently unrealistic, as he could not control whether IBM signed a new client or whether one of its existing clients chose [him] as its consultant,' the judge said. Even before the second Trump administration and the new target on DEI, attorneys have long warned that poorly structured diversity programs could put employers at risk for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During a SHRM panel in June 2024, attorneys Jonathan Segal, Victoria Lipnic and Rae Vann discussed the types of legally questionable practices employers sometimes use. Quotas, set asides and preferences are all prohibited by Title VII, they said. They also highlighted a fourth problematic practice: tying management compensation to quantitative diversity goals. The plaintiff in Dill v. IBM alleged that IBM tied executive compensation to DEI and set specific quotas, among other practices. More recently, Segal explained how employers can re-evaluate their programs — and what other issues they should be aware of — in an op-ed for HR Dive. IBM did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
12-02-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Firms Are Tapping Europe's Cheaper Bond Market Like It's 2007
Blue-chip US companies are raising euro debt at breakneck speed in a bid to lock in significantly lower borrowing costs across the pond. So-called reverse Yankee issuance reached €23.4 billion ($24.3 billion) so far this year, the highest for this period since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Big ticket deals from T-Mobile US Inc. and International Business Machines Corp., as well as offerings from major Wall Street banks, have contributed to the total.
