IBM said it has completed its acquisition of HRL Laboratories, LLC, a research institution with expertise spanning quantum computing, quantum sensing, advanced communications, electronics, manufacturing, and materials science. The company said the deal adds to its broader innovation and investment efforts in quantum manufacturing and infrastructure. IBM also highlighted HRL’s capabilities in silicon-based quantum technologies, saying that expertise could open future collaboration opportunities with Anderon, IBM’s pure-play quantum wafer foundry, and support scalable manufacturing methods aimed at speeding learning cycles across multiple quantum computing approaches. Boeing and General Motors, identified as HRL’s former owners, will continue working with IBM and HRL on quantum applications and advanced technology development. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

IBM said it has completed its acquisition of HRL Laboratories, LLC, according to Newswire. HRL is described as a leading research and development organization with expertise spanning quantum computing, quantum sensing, advanced communications, electronics, manufacturing, and materials science. IBM said the deal adds to its broader innovation and investment efforts in quantum manufacturing and infrastructure. The company also pointed to HRL’s background in silicon-based quantum technologies as opening opportunities for future work with Anderon, IBM’s pure-play quantum wafer foundry. IBM said that collaboration could support scalable manufacturing methods and help speed learning cycles across multiple quantum computing modalities. Boeing and General Motors, identified as HRL’s former owners, will continue working with IBM and HRL on quantum applications and advanced technology development. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

IBM has released the Granite 4.2 family of open-source reasoning language models, introducing three parameter sizes: 3B, 8B, and 30B. The series is built around explicit reasoning, with each model able to generate a chain of thought before answering. IBM also included a thinking/non-thinking switch and a low-power mode across the lineup. The models use a decoder-only dense Transformer architecture, were pretrained from scratch on roughly 15 trillion tokens, and then post-trained through a multi-stage reinforcement learning pipeline. IBM said the 8B and 30B versions include agentic reinforcement learning modules, allowing them to learn tasks such as editing code, operating a terminal, and performing web search in real sandbox environments. All Granite 4.2 models are released under the Apache 2.0 license, which permits downloading, fine-tuning, and commercial production use. IBM also introduced two 470M-parameter Granite Speech 5.0 Turbo CTC speech models. In SWE-Bench Verified, the 8B and 30B models scored 47.67 and 57.00, respectively. According to MarkTechPost, the models are aimed at sectors including software development, finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and the public sector.

IBM has released Granite Speech 5.0 Turbo CTC, a speech transcription model positioned around speed and accuracy. According to the company’s official blog, the model is presented as an "extremely fast and accurate transcription" solution. The release was also referenced on Hugging Face. The announcement, cited by Techub News, did not include additional technical specifications, pricing details, or rollout timelines in the provided source. Based on the available information, the release centers on transcription performance, with IBM highlighting both throughput and recognition quality as the model’s main selling points. No other product claims or deployment details were disclosed in the source text.

Binance said on Aug. 6 it will support cash dividend distribution for holders of Apple (AAPL) and IBM (IBM) tokenized stocks bStocks. Dividends, after withholding tax, fees and other costs, will automatically be reinvested into additional or fractional shares of the underlying securities, and eligible users will receive distributions in the form of AAPLB and IBMB bStocks. Holders must meet position requirements at the record snapshot scheduled for 00:00 UTC on Aug. 10, 2026 to qualify. On-chain holders will receive their dividends through a multiplier adjustment method. Binance added that AAPLB/USDT and IBMB/USDT trading will be unaffected. The 1:1 conversion between AAPL/IBM shares and AAPLB/IBMB bStocks will be suspended at 23:30 UTC on Aug. 7; deposits and withdrawals for AAPLB and IBMB will be suspended at 23:30 UTC on Aug. 9. Services will resume after the dividend distribution is completed.

Circle has acquired nearly 1,000 blockchain patents from IBM, covering more than 680 patent families tied to blockchain systems, financial services, and enterprise infrastructure. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal and did not say whether it plans to enforce the patents against competitors. Circle said the portfolio will support businesses including USDC, Circle Payments Network, and its Arc blockchain. Fortune said the limited disclosure around the transaction has raised concern that the patents could become legal tools used against rivals or startups. Circle has not announced a defensive patent pledge or any licensing program tied to the portfolio.

Circle said it has acquired IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio, adding a large set of intellectual property tied to core blockchain technology and enterprise use cases. The assets include more than 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 granted patents, spanning banking, financial services, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification, and secure cloud operations. Circle said the deal makes it a leading blockchain patent holder in the United States. The company added that the portfolio will support the buildout of USDC, Circle Payments Network, Arc, and other on-chain financial products and infrastructure. Circle and IBM also said they will explore additional commercial cooperation opportunities going forward. The announcement was reported by ChainCatcher.

IBM unveiled Context Studio, Process Studio, and other AI agent enhancements at Think 2026, targeting hybrid cloud deployments. Early tests show 25%+ cost reduction. Partnerships include SAP, AWS, and U.S. federal cloud.