IBM and Anthropic have announced a strategic partnership aimed at advancing enterprise software development by integrating Anthropic’s Claude large language model (LLM) into IBM’s software portfolio. The collaboration is intended to boost productivity, while embedding security, governance, and cost controls throughout the software development lifecycle.

As part of the agreement, Claude will be incorporated into select IBM software products, beginning with a new AI-first integrated development environment (IDE). This IDE is currently in private preview for selected IBM clients. Early testing has involved more than 6,000 IBM early adopters who have reported an average productivity increase of 45 percent, which has led to significant cost savings while maintaining code quality and security standards.

The partnership addresses a growing need among organizations moving from AI experimentation to production deployment. These companies require solutions that can integrate with existing infrastructure and meet strict IT requirements. IBM brings its experience in enterprise software delivery and hybrid cloud architecture to ensure these AI tools are compatible with complex business operations.

“IBM has been the backbone of enterprise technology for decades because we understand what it takes to deploy at scale in mission-critical environments,” said Dinesh Nirmal, SVP, Software at IBM. “This partnership enhances our software portfolio with advanced AI capabilities while maintaining the governance, security, and reliability that our clients have come to expect. We’re giving development teams AI that fits how enterprises work not experimental tools that create new risks.”

Mike Krieger, Chief Product Officer at Anthropic, stated: “Enterprises are looking for AI they can actually trust with their code, their data, and their day-to-day operations. Claude has become the go-to AI for developers at the world's largest companies because of our focus on safety and reliability. This partnership with IBM lets us bring that same level of dedication to even more enterprise teams while building the open standards that will make AI agents genuinely useful in business environments.”

The new IDE leverages leading LLMs like Claude to support developers across various stages of the software development lifecycle. Key use cases include automated application modernization, intelligent code generation and review aligned with compliance needs, end-to-end orchestration from development through maintenance, and embedding security directly into workflows.

Additionally, IBM has created a guide titled Architecting Secure Enterprise AI Agents with MCP, verified by Anthropic. This guide introduces a structured approach known as the Agent Development Lifecycle (ADLC), designed for deploying and managing enterprise AI agents as businesses increasingly adopt agentic AI for automation and decision-making.

IBM also plans to contribute assets such as best practice guides and open-source tools developed from its experience deploying AI across many client environments to support open standards for AI deployment within the Model Context Protocol (MCP) community.

Looking ahead, IBM is considering integrating Claude into additional products as part of its broader product integration strategy.

Statements regarding future directions or intentions from both companies are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.