IBM CEO says there is 'no way' spending on AI data centers will pay off

Post by cylemons » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:29 AM UTC

jojobas wrote: post #442

stevenjgarner wrote: post #240

"It is 1958. IBM passes up the chance to buy a young, fledgling company that has invented a new technology called xerography. Two years later, Xerox is born, and IBM has been kicking themselves ever since. It is ten years later, the late '60s. Digital Equipment DEC and others invent the minicomputer. IBM dismisses the minicomputer as too small to do serious computing and, therefore, unimportant to their business. DEC…

DEC went down the drain, Xerox is 1/1000 of IBM's market cap. IBM made its own, superior by its relative openness, personal computer that ended up running the world, mostly maintaining direct binary compatibility for 40+ years, even without IBM really paying attention.

Post by steve_adams_86 » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:36 AM UTC

eschaton wrote: post #604

jstummbillig wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value is that we need a lot more software and now, because building software has gotten so much less time consuming, you can sell software to people that could/would not have paid for it previously at a different price point.

We don’t need more software, we need the right software implemented better. That’s not something LLMs can possibly give us because they’re fucking pachinko machines. Here’s a hint: Nobody should ever write a CRUD app, because nobody should ever have to write a CRUD app; that’s something that can be generated fully and deterministically (i.e. by a set of locally-executable heuristics, not a goddamn ocean-boiling LLM)…

Post by 3form » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:44 AM UTC

b112 wrote: post #585

logifail wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How different is this from rental car companies changing over their fleets? New generations of GPUs leapfrog in efficiency (performance per watt) and vehicles don't? Cars don't get exponentially better every 2–3 years, meaning the second-hand market is alive and well. Some of us are quite happy driving older cars (two parked outside our home right now, both well over 100,000km driven). If you have a datacentre with…

The used market is going to be absolutely flooded with millions of old cards. I imagine shipping being the most expensive cost for them. The supply side will be insane. Think 100 cards but only 1 buyer as a ratio. Profit for ebay sellers will be on "handling", or inflated shipping costs. eg shipping and handling.

Post by kelnos » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:53 AM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #522

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IBM has not exactly had a stellar record at identifying the future. IBM invented/developed/introduced magnetic stripe cards, UPC Barcodes, the modern ATM, Hard drives, floppies, DRAM, SQL, the 360 Family of Mainframes, the PC, Apollo guidance computers, Deep Blue. IBM created a far share of the future we're living in. I'm no fan of much of what IBM is doing at the moment but it could be argued that its consultancy/…

The other way to look at it is that the entire consulting industry is teetering on catastrophe. And IBM, being largely a consulting company now, is not being spared.

Post by lanyard-textile » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 9:54 AM UTC

crystal_revenge wrote: post #414

edm0nd wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly I'm not even sure what IBM does these days. Seems like one company that has slowly been dying for decades. but when I look at their stock, its at all time highs lol no idea

I can think of nothing more peak HN than criticizing a company worth $282 Billion with $6 billion in profit (for startup kids that means they have infinite runway and then some) that has existed for over 100 years with "I'm not even sure what they do these days". I mean the problem could be with IBM... what a loser company!