IBM to announce $20B investment during Biden trip to New York

IBM on Thursday will announce plans to invest $20 billion over the next 10 years on research and development initiatives and semiconductor manufacturing as President Biden visits the company’s campus in New York.

Biden will travel to Poughkeepsie to speak about his economic plan and meet with workers, a White House official said. The president will highlight IBM’s announcement, which comes on the heels of another investment from chip manufacturer Micron in upstate New York.

IBM said its vision for the Poughkeepsie campus is to become “a global hub of the company’s quantum computing development.”

Biden will be joined during the visit by Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.).

Biden will also attend fundraisers in New York City and Red Bank, N.J., during Thursday’s trip.

The IBM announcement is the latest economic win for the White House since the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, which passed with bipartisan support and included more than $50 billion in incentives for manufacturers to build domestic semiconductor plants. It also included more than $80 billion for the National Science Foundation authorized over five years to support innovation and research.

Biden administration officials had for months warned of supply chain and national security risks if Congress did not invest in domestic manufacturing of chips that are used to power computers, cars and major home appliances, arguing the U.S. would become too reliant on China and others for the semiconductors.