IBM Research and Development operation pulling out of China after a 20% decline in revenue last year

IBM-China-logo

Important Takeaways:

  • Jack Hergenrother, IBM’s VP of global enterprise systems development, confirmed the R&D shutdown in China to IBM employees in a meeting on Monday, citing Chinese competition, The Wall Street Journal reports. Plus, IBM’s infrastructure business has not been doing as well in recent years, the executive reportedly said. IBM saw its revenue from China fall nearly 20% last year amid ongoing tech industry tensions between the US and China.
  • IBM is planning to hire R&D staff in other locations, like India, according to employees familiar with the plans. Over 1,000 IBM employees in China are expected to lose their jobs, impacting staff in cities like Shanghai and Beijing. At time of writing, IBM’s research division only shows a handful of jobs available based in either Japan, the US, or Singapore. IBM has not yet responded to PCMag’s request for comment.
  • IBM’s research primarily focuses on artificial intelligence development, semiconductor research, quantum computing, and cloud computing technology, according to the company’s website. In recent months, IBM launched an AI development platform for engineers called InstructLab and open-sourced some of its Granite AI models.

Read the original article by clicking here.