IBM

IBM Corp announced Monday at a press conference it was forging a path into western China by setting up its own R&D center, IBM rational software analyzer lab and IBM regional software growth center in Xi'an.

The west China area covers 10 provinces and regions, including Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Chongqing, Tibet and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Steve Mills, IBM global senior vice president said the company will bring solutions including industry services, software architecture and system optimization toChineseconsumers.

Besides meeting consumers' needs in western China, these centers will also provide support to other areas in the world.

The company's largest R&D center in the world is in China with more than 5,000 engineers in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

So far, the IBM R&D center and IBM rational software analyzer lab has 200 employees and will continue to expand in the next 10 years.

Since last year, IBM intensified its investments in regional markets. Currently, IBM has four large business areas and seven regional software growth centers in China, including Xi'an, Nanjing, Jinan, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Shijiazhuang and Shenyang.

Jing Junhai, vice-governor of Shaanxi Province, said that the second 10-year plan of China's West development plan will start, and the government is pleased to see IBM increase its investment in Xi'an to cooperate with the West development plan. In addition, he said that he hoped more companies like IBM will invest in Xi'an.