The PC manufacturing portion of the previous International Information Products Co Ltd joint venture was sold to Lenovo as part of IBM’s $1.75 billion sale of its PC business, leaving the eServer xSeries manufacturing portion.
According to reports from Asia, the two companies have formed a new joint venture named International Systems Technology Company to handle the continued manufacturing of IBM’s xSeries servers in China.
While the ownership terms of the joint venture are not changed, with IBM owning 80% and Great Wall 20%, reports indicate that the deal has been expanded to take in the manufacturing of IBM’s RISC-based pSeries servers in Asia Pac.
IBM announced the establishment of IIPC with Great Wall in 1994 and has over the years expanded its relationship with the Chinese firm to take in the production of hard disk drives. The new ISTC is expected to begin production in the second quarter of 2005.
