By Akriti Shah (Reuters) -IBM shares dropped nearly 7% in premarket trading on Thursday after a decline in growth in its core cloud software segment spooked investors over Big Blue's ability to seize the booming demand for cloud services. Sluggish expansion in IBM's cloud business, a unit of its software segment, raised fresh concerns among investors about the company's ability to capitalize on the rapid growth in cloud services driven by AI adoption. The company's sales growth in the hybrid cloud unit – known as Red Hat – decreased to 14% from 16% in the previous quarter. "IBM's software performance and outlook tend to carry more weight than the rest of the business due to the level of earnings contribution and value the business represents," said J.P. Morgan analysts. "This is particular

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