Turning stone into gold? Trump’s “old ticket-pumping video” spreads, IBM surges 15% premarket

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A video of Trump publicly praising IBM’s CEO at an event last December has recently resurfaced on social media. Coupled with a series of major positive news, it has pushed IBM’s stock price to a new high.

Over the weekend, the video spread widely on social media, causing IBM’s share price to soar more than 15% in pre-market trading. Notably, the video is actually old footage from last December and not a recent event, but it is often stripped of its original context during transmission and presented as "breaking news", triggering a strong reaction in the market.

This surge did not happen out of nowhere. Before the video began circulating again, IBM had already risen sharply due to a $1 billion government quantum computing contract. The company itself also announced several large investment plans, and strong fundamentals supported the sentiment-driven rally.

Old Video Reignites Hype, Pre-Market Gains Surged Over 15%

The original scene of the video was a business roundtable at the White House held on December 10, 2025. Trump called out and praised IBM CEO Arvind Krishna at the meeting, referring to him as a "legendary figure," and complimenting him for raising the company’s stock price from "a fairly low level" to "a very decent level," then adding, "I won’t say ‘high,’ because I believe you’d say it will go up a lot more, right?"

About half a year later, this video began circulating widely again on social media in late May 2026, often clipped and removed from its context, presented as "latest news." As a result, IBM’s share price jumped more than 15% in pre-market trading.

$1 Billion Quantum Contract—The Real Starting Point for the Rally

The renewed circulation of the video happened to coincide with a series of substantial positives for IBM. On May 21, 2026, IBM and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans to provide $1 billion under the CHIPS Act for IBM to build America’s first dedicated quantum chip foundry in Albany, New York. The factory will be operated as an independent new company named Anderon.

This federal funding is currently only a "proposed incentive" and has not yet been actually disbursed. IBM will match it with $1 billion of its own funds, intellectual property, and human resources. The funding IBM will receive is the largest among the $2.01 billion allocated by Commerce to nine companies. Other beneficiaries include GlobalFoundries (expected to get $375 million), Atom Computing, D-Wave, Infleqtion, PsiQuantum, Quantinuum (each receiving $100 million), Rigetti (up to $100 million), and Diraq ($38 million). Unlike some previous cases, the government will participate by acquiring minority non-controlling equity, rather than direct subsidies. IBM’s announcement did not disclose the proportion of Anderon’s equity that the government will hold.

On the day of the announcement, IBM’s stock closed up about 12%, marking its biggest single-day gain since January 2025. Over the following week, IBM further announced plans to invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing over the next five years, as well as a separate $5 billion expansion in Red Hat cybersecurity business. The stock continued to rise, closing at $297.80 on May 29, with a weekly gain of about 13%.

Trump Trust Holds IBM, But in Small Quantity

Another point of market interest is that Trump’s own trust account holds IBM stock.

According to the periodic trading report for Q1 2026 submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on May 8, 2026, IBM appears on the holdings list, but not as a single remarkable purchase—it is simply part of routine two-way trading.

The report shows that from February to March 2026, the trust conducted eight IBM trades, including four buys and four sells, each falling within the two lowest reporting ranges ($1,001 to $50,000 per trade). Two of the buys are marked as "non-discretionary," meaning the trades were executed by the asset manager and not directly instructed by the trust holder. These transactions are spread among thousands of trades in hundreds of companies, reflecting a broad, actively managed portfolio rather than a targeted bet on IBM.

Risk Warnings and DisclaimerThe market is risky, and investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not consider the unique investment goals, financial situations, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are suitable for their specific circumstances. Invest at your own risk. ```