IBM Corp said it would hive off its loss-making semiconductor unit to contract-chipmaker Globalfoundries Inc to focus on cloud computing and big data analytics. IBM will pay Globalfoundries $1.5 billion in cash over the next three years to take the chip operations off its hands, the companies said in a statement on Monday.
IBM has been reducing its presence in the hardware industry. The company completed its $2.1 billion sale of the x86 server business to Lenovo Group earlier this month. In 2005, Lenovo acquired IBM’s consumer PC laptop business for $1.25 billion. The business being sold focuses on chip design and manufacturing, and is housed in the company’s systems and technology unit.
Globalfoundries Chief Executive Sanjay Jha said the company would invest $10 billion between 2014 and 2015 to develop 10 nanometer, 14 nanometer and radio-frequency technologies.
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