President Biden was in Poughkeepsie, New York today to point to another major investment announced by a technology company since the CHIPS and Science Act passed a few weeks ago. IBM, which once gave us the floppy disk, plans to put $20 billion over 10 years into its facilities in the state for its work in semiconductor manufacturing, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and research and development.
IBM has a long presence in New York. It was founded there over a century ago, and although it’s now a genuinely global company it still employs over 7,500 people in the Empire State, with most of its footprint in the Hudson Valley. Today’s announcement is obviously a major economic commitment to its presence there; $20 billion is a lot of money, and all of that spending will spur economic activity and create more jobs.
