IBM To Start Technology Design Services Unit

IBM

The news came amid a flurry of changes the computer giant said it would make to boost its microelectronics business. Those changes will include workforce reductions, spinning its Hard Disk Drive (HDD) unit into an independent company run by Hitachi, and focusing less on older, aluminum-based chip technology and more on newer, copper-based technology.

"Our intention is to leverage and learn from . . . IBM Global Services," said John Kelly, IBM's senior vice president in charge of its Technology Group. Kelly, speaking in a conference call to reporters and security analysts, said he remained confident in IBM's technology, research and development, even in the face of tough competition.

"Copper, SOI (silicon-on-insulator ) ... are not easy to manufacture or design, but they are becoming must-have customer designs," Kelly said. "I assure you many more companies are claiming to have mastered these production techniques than have succeeded. I know, because some of them are paying us to show them how to do it."

IBM did not immediately reveal details on the new unit, including how many would work there or from where they would come.