IBM joined many technology companies on Monday and announced plans for new investments in the US. This puts pressure on the Trump administration to expand US manufacturing.
The Armonk, New York-based software company said it will invest $150 billion in the US over the next five years, including $30 billion to support the production of mainframes and quantum computers. The announcement is partially assembled as an effort to promote the US economy, after chipmaker Nvidia said it would invest $500 billion this month to produce all of the US AI supercomputers.
“This investment and manufacturing commitment ensures that IBM will remain the epicenter of the world's most advanced computing and AI capabilities,” said Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, in a statement.
However, it remains to be seen whether the pledges from IBM and other tech giants will be fully realized. The investments promoted by major companies during President Trump's first term were sometimes lacking in the plans mentioned in the announcement. The $10 billion project, released in Wisconsin by electronic maker Foxconn in 2018 (who Trump praised as “eight wonders of the world”), did not reach expectations.
Since Trump took office, the announcement has been steadily coming. The Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, the world's largest chip maker, said last month that it will expand its production capacity and expand its most sophisticated semiconductor processes in Arizona, spending $100 billion over the next four years. In February, days after Apple's CEO met with Trump, the company said it plans to spend $500 billion over the next four years, employ 20,000 people in the US, open a factory in Texas, and open a machine that will boost the company's artificial intelligence drive.
In January, Trump announced a joint venture between Openai, Softbank and Oracle, creating at least $100 billion in computing infrastructure to power artificial intelligence.
The Trump administration has put pressure on businesses to produce more in the US, particularly with a view to China. Still, he escaped smartphones, computers, semiconductors and other electronic devices from the tariffs Trump imposed on Chinese products as part of his trade war.
