# Who does IBM pay? Who are its key suppliers?
Canonical: https://valuechain.wiki/ibm · Facet: suppliers · Updated: 2026-09-11T15:35:54.505453+00:00 · Source: ValueChain.wiki (cited money-flow graph)

**Citable summary**: IBM's confirmed suppliers/cost counterparties include Samsung Electronics (foundry — Telum/Power fabrication), NVIDIA (AI compute — watsonx, IBM Cloud), Adobe Inc.. Per the valuechain.wiki graph: 3 cost edges, backed by 5 dated sources, 1 of them primary filings (as of 2026-09-11).

### 삼성전자 (파운드리 — 텔럼·파워 위탁생산) (high)  → /samsung-electronics.md
- note: IBM designs Telum/Power but fabricates nothing itself — Samsung Foundry makes Telum II on 5nm (600mm2, 43bn transistors) and Telum/Power10 on 7nm EUV, a 10+-year partnership. It followed IBM's 2015 exit from its own fabs (sold to GlobalFoundries, then litigation over GF's failed 7nm handoff, settled 2024) and the move of leading-edge chips to Samsung — so the z17 cycle rides Samsung yields.
- [mentions] SEC EDGAR (EN, filing, published 2026-02-24) https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000005114326000010/ibm-20251231.htm: "IBM outsources semiconductor manufacturing — depends on foundry partners for leading-edge logic supply."
- [confirms] SamMobile (EN, news, published 2024-08-26) https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-foundry-manufacture-ibm-two-new-ai-chips/: "Samsung Foundry manufactures IBM's new AI chips (Telum II) on 5nm — IBM's long-standing fabrication partner."
- [confirms] ZDNet Korea (KO, news, published 2021-12-16) https://zdnet.co.kr/view/?no=20211216141614: "Samsung makes IBM's Power10 (7nm EUV) and Power11 (5nm) server CPUs; a 10+-year process-R&D partnership with the industry's first 7nm test chip in 2015."

### Red Hat (2019 인수 $340억) (high)
- note: The $34B 2019 Red Hat acquisition is the pivot that turned IBM from declining hardware/services to hybrid-cloud software — OpenShift (ARR +30%+) is the software growth engine, and multi-cloud neutrality ('locked to no single cloud') became IBM's moat, the foundation for its later software roll-up.
- [mentions] SEC EDGAR (EN, filing, published 2026-02-24) https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000005114326000010/ibm-20251231.htm: "Red Hat drives Software-segment growth (OpenShift ARR +30%+)."

### HashiCorp (2025 인수 $64억) (high)
- note: The $6.4B February 2025 HashiCorp (Terraform, Vault) acquisition extends Red Hat into infrastructure automation and secrets management — following Apptio, Turbonomic and StreamSets, a deliberate roll-up that uses free cash flow to buy recurring-revenue software and lift the group mix toward software.
- [mentions] SEC EDGAR (EN, filing, published 2026-02-24) https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000005114326000010/ibm-20251231.htm: "IBM continues acquisitions to expand its software mix."
- [confirms] IBM (EN, news, published 2025-02-27) https://newsroom.ibm.com/2025-02-27-ibm-completes-acquisition-of-hashicorp,-creates-comprehensive,-end-to-end-hybrid-cloud-platform: "IBM completed the HashiCorp acquisition ($6.4B) — strengthening hybrid-cloud infrastructure automation and security."

### 엔비디아 (AI 컴퓨트 — watsonx·IBM Cloud) (mid)  → /nvidia.md
- note: IBM sells the enterprise-AI 'layer' but buys the compute beneath it from NVIDIA — watsonx.data's Presto engine is accelerated by NVIDIA cuDF/GPUs (a Nestle test showed 30x price-performance), and the two expanded their collaboration at GTC 2026. watsonx economics ride NVIDIA silicon, so scaling the AI book deepens dependence on NVIDIA compute.
- [confirms] IBM (EN, news, published 2026-03-16) https://newsroom.ibm.com/2026-03-16-ibm-and-nvidia-announce-expanded-collaboration-at-gtc-2026-to-advance-ai-for-the-enterprise: "IBM-NVIDIA expanded collaboration — GPU-native analytics and watsonx NIM/cuDF integration to operationalize enterprise AI."
- [mentions] SEC EDGAR (EN, filing, published 2026-02-24) https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000005114326000010/ibm-20251231.htm: "IBM leverages GPU-accelerated compute for its AI infrastructure and watsonx."

### 어도비 (mid)  → /adobe.md
- note: IBM built a unified foundation for authoring, governing, and publishing its large technical-content estate with Adobe Experience Manager Guides, while the customer-specific contract value is not disclosed.
- [confirms] Adobe (EN, ir, published 2026-08-03) https://business.adobe.com/resources/webinars/ibm-content-at-scale-aem-guides.html: "IBM launched a bold initiative to build a unified, intelligent content foundation, powered by Adobe Experience Manager Guides."

Reverse side: https://valuechain.wiki/ibm/customers.md · Ripple: https://valuechain.wiki/ibm/ripple.md

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