Shares of International Business Machines rose during early trading on Tuesday after the company announced a new partnership with AI startup Anthropic to embed its models into IBM’s software products.
The stock climbed by nearly 3.5% as investors welcomed the collaboration, which underscores IBM’s deepening commitment to artificial intelligence for enterprise clients.
The deal, announced jointly by the two companies, will see Anthropic’s flagship Claude models integrated into IBM’s latest integrated developer environment (IDE), a tool aimed at large organisations to help automate development tasks such as code modernisation and system upgrades.
IBM said it plans to incorporate Claude into a wider range of software offerings over time.
How will the partnership help Anthropic and IBM?
The partnership brings together Anthropic’s rapidly advancing AI models and IBM’s longstanding influence in the corporate technology space.
“IBM knows how to navigate enterprise barriers,” said Mike Krieger, Anthropic’s chief product officer.
“They understand existing tech stacks, have deep consulting capabilities and can help with change management at scale. This partnership combines our AI capabilities with IBM’s enterprise expertise to make adoption happen where it matters most.”
IBM will also publish a new guide to help companies deploy AI agents — autonomous bots capable of performing tasks independently — using Anthropic’s open-source Model Context Protocol (MCP).
The protocol connects AI models to external systems, allowing them to perform more complex operations within corporate IT environments.
While financial terms were not disclosed, both companies emphasised the strategic nature of the collaboration.
For Anthropic, the move signals an acceleration of its efforts to penetrate the lucrative enterprise market.
For IBM, it marks another step in modernising its offerings and extending its reach in the fast-growing AI software space.
Anthropic deepens enterprise footprint
Anthropic, based in San Francisco, has steadily expanded its enterprise partnerships.
On Monday, it announced its largest such deal to date — a tie-up with Deloitte to make its models available to more than 470,000 of the consultancy’s employees worldwide.
Earlier this year, it also partnered with Databricks to help business clients build AI agents tailored to their operations.
The company said nearly 80% of user activity on its Claude platform now comes from outside the United States.
It plans to triple its international workforce as it expands into Europe and Asia.
Anthropic launched Claude Enterprise last September, a version of its AI product suite designed specifically for large corporations.
The startup now counts more than 300,000 business users, positioning it as a strong challenger in the AI-for-business space dominated by rivals such as OpenAI and Google.
IBM doubles down on “AI for business”
For IBM, the Anthropic partnership aligns with its “AI for business” strategy.
The Armonk, New York-based firm has transformed itself from a hardware maker into a software and consulting powerhouse, generating the majority of its revenue from digital services.
Kareem Yusuf, IBM’s senior vice president for ecosystem and strategic partners, said the company was impressed by Anthropic’s model performance and its focus on business customers.
“We are really about AI for business,” Yusuf said. “It’s about finding partners that match that ethos.”
While IBM continues to develop its own Granite AI models — optimized for coding languages such as Cobol — the addition of Claude will give its customers access to a broader set of AI tools designed to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and maintain software quality.
Market response and outlook
IBM’s stock has gained nearly 32% year-to-date, supported by steady demand for its enterprise AI and hybrid cloud offerings.
Analysts maintain a “hold” rating on the stock, with a median price target of $280.
The latest partnership with Anthropic could strengthen IBM’s position as one of the key enablers of AI adoption across major industries — bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI research and real-world corporate deployment.
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