IBM Shares Plunge 13% as Anthropic AI Accelerates COBOL Refactoring

IBM’s share price dropped 13% after Anthropic highlighted its Claude Code tool’s ability to rapidly refactor legacy COBOL applications, signaling AI-driven automation of a traditionally labour‑intensive segment of software maintenance and raising concerns about IBM’s competitive position in mainframe solutions.

Sector: Electronic Labour | Confidence: 95%
Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2026/02/23/ibm_share_dive_anthropic_cobol/

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Council (2 models): The signal shows AI refactoring tools turning COBOL maintenance into a service offering, spawning a new market that pressures IBM’s legacy mainframe revenue. IBM’s customers begin adopting Claude Code, prompting the company to renegotiate support contracts while investors and analysts reassess valuations of legacy‑tech firms. Simultaneously, Microsoft and Google introduce competing AI code‑generation solutions, widening competitive pressure on IBM. The shift reduces demand for mainframe hardware and data‑center capacity, and insurers adjust technology‑obsolescence risk models. These dynamics unfold across finance, insurance, and real‑infrastructure sectors, reflecting an immediate reallocation of resources and risk assessments.
Cross-sector: Finance, Insurance, Real Infrastructure

  ? How does IBM’s mainframe services division adjust contracts and service‑level agreements in response to AI‑driven COBOL refactoring?
  ? What is the current adoption rate of Anthropic’s Claude Code among IBM’s mainframe customers?
  ? How do enterprise IT budgets reallocate spending between legacy mainframe maintenance and AI‑based refactoring services?

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