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International Business Machines (IBM) shares suffered a steep daily decline on Feb. 23 after Anthropic said its "Claude Code” could accelerate the modernization of COBOL systems. Since IBM is a major player in the COBOL ecosystem that powers critical insurance, banking, and government infrastructure, investors fear AI could erode its long-standing moat in mission-critical systems.
Amid a broader software rout that some experts are now calling a “SaaS-mageddon,” IBM shares have lost as much as 28% this month.