As part of a plan to cut costs, IBM has announced it is to exit PC manufacturing in the US and is instead to offer customers IBM branded desktops manufactured by a third-party contractor. IBM has awarded a $billion, three-year outsourcing contract to California based Sanmina-SCI As part of the agreement, Sanmina-SCI will acquire an IBM computer factory in Research Triangle Park, N.C., for an undisclosed sum. The factory currently builds IBM NetVista PCs for the U.S. and Canadian markets.
IBM already outsources PC manufacturing for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to a contractor in Greenock, Scotland. Under Tuesday’s deal, Sanmina-SCI will assume management of that contract and will also acquire equipment from the Scottish plant. IBM will continue to manufacture its ThinkPad laptops in-house at a company plant in Mexico.
