About Company

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York. IBM operates in over 175 countries and is publicly traded, recognized as one of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It holds the distinction of being the largest industrial research organization in the world, with 19 research facilities spread across a dozen countries. IBM held the record for generating the most annual U.S. patents by a single business for 29 consecutive years, from 1993 to 2021.

IBM was originally founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), a holding company composed of manufacturers of record-keeping and measuring systems. In 1924, it was renamed International Business Machines, a name that better reflected its expanding global presence and technological ambitions. The company soon became the leading manufacturer of punch-card tabulating systems.

During the 1960s and 1970s, IBM’s mainframe computers—most notably the System/360—became the dominant computing platform globally. At its peak, IBM was responsible for producing 80 percent of all computers in the United States and 70 percent worldwide, solidifying its status as a global technology leader.

In 1981, IBM entered the microcomputer market with the launch of the IBM Personal Computer (PC). The operating system for this PC, DOS, was provided by Microsoft and went on to become the foundational software for the majority of personal computers. IBM also achieved notable success in the portable computing market with the launch of the ThinkPad, a laptop line known for its durability and performance.

Starting in the 1990s, IBM shifted its focus toward computer services, software development, supercomputing, and scientific research. In 2005, the company sold its microcomputer division to Lenovo, a major move that marked its departure from the traditional PC market. Nevertheless, IBM has continued to develop mainframe systems and remains a leader in the supercomputing industry, with its systems consistently ranking among the world’s most powerful.

In 2018, IBM, along with 91 other Fortune 500 companies, was reported to have paid an effective federal tax rate of 0% or less due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced under President Donald Trump.

As one of the world’s oldest and largest technology companies, IBM has been the driving force behind many groundbreaking technological innovations. These include the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM), the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database, the SQL programming language, and the Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode. IBM has also made major advancements in computer chip technology, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and data infrastructure.

The company's legacy of innovation is further reflected in the accolades earned by its employees and alumni, who have received six Nobel Prizes and six Turing Awards for their contributions to science and technology.