IBM gets green light to sell x86 servers to Lenovo

IBM servers, now Lenovo-bound
IBM servers, now Lenovo-bound

That's it, the deal is done. After months of rumours and uncertainty, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) has signed off the sale of IBM's x86 server business to Chinese tech giant Lenovo.

The Chinese government had already agreed to the transaction which took place early 2014, but was conditional to the deal being approved by regulatory bodies of both countries - and that has now happened.

Lenovo purchased IBM's ailing x86 business for $2.3 billion (about £1.4 billion, AU$2.6 billion) in January this year but the acquisition hit a number of snags.

Concerns were raised by the US government over the potential security risks associated with the deal, especially when it comes to the maintenance of existing IBM servers within the US government.

And the recent tussle between both countries who mutually accused each other of spying didn't make the transaction any simpler.

For Big Blue, it is the end of an era as it has now got rid of all its x86 business, one that it helped popularise decades ago when it took on Microsoft and made PC-compatible a household technology.

Bloomberg did however report that CFIUS placed some unspecified conditions on the deal according to one source, but those did not have any significant impact on the agreement.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.