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Fundamental research. For example, Karl Alex Müller discovered super-conductivity while working at IBM's Swiss research lab and later won the Nobel prize for that (http://www.uzh.ch/about/portrait/nobelprize_en.html). Also, they invented the scanning electron microscope, along with other discoveries relevant at nano-scale.

IBM is one of the very few companies that does fundamental research with a time-horizon of decades, and not just one product cycle.

Thanks for the detailed info! Really appreciated :)

You mean _high-temperature_ superconductivity. The regular stuff has been known since the turn of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heike_Kamerlingh_Onnes

IBM does a lot of basic research.

Intel and IBM have a long standing patent cross-licensing arrangement in place.

Intel is the big player in that space.