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Interface News reporter | Xiao Fang

Jiemian News Editor | Song Jianan

On August 26, Jiemian News exclusively learned thatIBMJack Hergenrother, vice president of global enterprise systems development, announced at a general meeting of IBM China Systems Center (CSL) this morning that IBM Infrastructure has decided to transfer the research and development work of the China Systems Laboratory to other IBM infrastructure bases overseas and is currently withdrawing all research and development work from China.

Jack Hergenrother said that in recent years, China's infrastructure business has declined. IBM has therefore made a difficult decision to move its business to other countries closer to customers based on market opportunities.

According to Jiemian News, IBM China has multiple branches. The one adjusted this time belongs to the IBM China Systems Center under IBMV, which is mainly responsible for research and development and testing. Its employees are distributed in many cities across the country, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Dalian, involving about one thousand people.

According to an employee of IBM China System Center, the head of IBM China System Center is currently communicating with the management of IBM headquarters about layoffs and compensation. Employees of IBM China System Center have made some demands for layoffs and compensation, including 2N compensation (N and monthly salary are not capped) and a 6-month buffer period, discounts for annual leave, unused paid family leave, stock discounts, etc.

IBM has previously carried out multiple rounds of layoffs around the world. In January 2023, the company announced a layoff of 3,900 people. In the second half of the year, it announced a hiring freeze and planned to replace nearly 8,000 jobs with artificial intelligence. In March this year, according to media reports, the layoff target ratio of some departments of IBM was as high as 80%.

The layoffs also affected IBM China. An internal employee said that last year, a product line of CDL (IBM China Development Center) was laid off, and the company offered compensation of N+3, with a buffer period of one year. On social media, some employees said they received layoff notices in March this year and left the company at the end of July.

IBM also issued a statement today in response to the incident, saying that the move was to adjust operations as needed to provide the best service to customers, and emphasized that these changes will not affect its ability to provide support to customers in Greater China. "Chinese companies, especially private companies, are increasingly paying attention to seizing the opportunities brought by hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, and IBM's local strategic focus in China is to use our rich experience in technology and consulting to build teams with corresponding skills to help Chinese customers co-create solutions that meet their needs."