#AIFearsSendIBMDown11%

1. “Concerns or fears about artificial intelligence (AI) caused IBM’s stock price to drop by 11%.”
Yes, this is 100% true and happened very recently (February 23–24, 2026).
IBM’s stock fell around 11–13% in a single day — it closed down about 13.2% at roughly $223.35.
This was one of the biggest single-day drops for IBM in the last 25 years!

Why did it crash so hard?
Because investors got scared of AI.
A company called Anthropic (makers of the AI model Claude) announced a new tool called “Claude Code.”
This tool can quickly modernize (update) very old computer code written in a language called COBOL.

COBOL is an ancient programming language still used by big banks, insurance companies, governments, and many large businesses.
IBM is one of the strongest companies in this area — they sell mainframe computers and services to maintain and update COBOL systems. This is a big part of their profit.

Now, if AI like Claude Code can do this job much faster and cheaper, companies might not need IBM’s expensive services anymore.
Investors thought: “Oh no, IBM’s business could lose a lot of money in the future!”
So they sold their IBM shares quickly → stock price dropped sharply.

This fear made February 2026 one of the worst months for IBM stock in decades.
2. Investors are worried about AI-related risks—like competition, regulation, or overhype—which triggered a significant sell-off in IBM shares.
Investors have three main worries about AI right now, and all of them hit IBM:
Competition fear
New AI tools are becoming very powerful and cheap.

They can replace slow, expensive human work (like updating old COBOL code).
IBM’s old-school services are now at risk because clients can use AI instead and save money.

→ More competition = less money for IBM.
Overhype and fast change
Everyone is talking about AI non-stop.
The market thinks AI is changing everything so quickly that old, traditional tech companies (like IBM) will fall behind or become less important.
Many stocks have already dropped because of “AI disruption” fear — IBM is just the latest victim.

Regulation and uncertainty
Governments are starting to make new rules for AI (privacy, job losses, safety, etc.).
No one knows exactly what rules will come or how they will affect companies.
When there is so much uncertainty + high AI hype, investors get nervous and sell shares to be safe.

Bottom line:
This wasn’t just a small dip — it was panic selling.
Many people sold IBM shares first and asked questions later.
Some experts say this reaction is too extreme.
IBM is also building its own AI (Watsonx platform) and is trying to join the AI race, not fight against it.

Analysts like Jefferies still recommend “Buy” for IBM because they think the long-term business is still strong.
But right now, the market mood is: “AI is scary for legacy tech companies → sell!”