On February 23 (local time), Anthropic unveiled a significant enhancement to its Claude Code product: the capability to autonomously undertake the most intricate code exploration and analysis tasks involved in COBOL modernization. The COBOL language, a stalwart in the programming world for decades, remains deeply entrenched in vital systems spanning finance, aviation, and government sectors. Consequently, COBOL modernization stands as a cornerstone of IBM's business portfolio.
The repercussions of Anthropic's announcement were immediate and severe. IBM's stock price took a nosedive, plummeting by 11% during Monday afternoon trading. This decline compounds to a staggering nearly 22% drop since the dawn of the new year. The crux of the issue lies in Claude Code's newfound ability to supplant traditional human labor with efficient AI-driven parsing. This shift directly undermines the consulting service model employed by firms like IBM, which have long depended on the maintenance of legacy systems as a lucrative revenue stream.