Lots of large companies do their own fonts. Not only does it allow them to get a unique branding look, but it can be cheaper than getting and keeping all the necessary licenses for an existing font. Generally the actual font design is farmed out to another company that does that sort of thing for a living.

It was a trends a few years ago, every company wanted their own custom font.

It's a nice font though, and they are right, it is distinctly IBM, it looks like IBM.

Fun fact: The typeface Courier (New) we know today from PCs (esp. Windows) is the most enduring of the fonts designed for IBM typewriters that were named after agent nouns related to communication: Adjutant, Advocate, Artisan, Courier, Delegate, Orator, Scribe.

Believe it or not, IBM's first product was actually a cheese slicer.

Wait for the new design of punchcards, spoliers: elliptical holes.

I recall (there’s a video by the font’s designer somewhere on YouTube) that IBM were paying over $1 million annually to license Helvetica, so one reason would be cost saving.