Information technology giant, IBM has enlarged its business scope in China's booming IT market by officially entering the local real estate segment for the first time in the company's history, a report said on Monday.
The US-based company inked a deal over the weekend in Beijing with the China Electronics Plaza (CEPLAZA), a landmark modern office building located in Zhongguancun, dubbed as the "Silicon Valley of China."
IBM (China) had reached an agreement to form a strategic partnership with CEPLAZA, which has a total construction space of more than 120,000 square metres, China Daily quoted sources with the company as saying.
The sources said that such a partnership would help IBM break its traditional business boundary and develop a new business sector.
Dai Jianping, general manager of IBM North China region (operations) said, the deal with the CEPLAZA marks the first time IBM has entered the real estate industry anywhere in the world.
"Such cooperation is a completely new experiment for us," Dai said after the signing of the agreement.
CEPLAZA operation president Zhu Qingwei said his company highly values cooperation with IBM because the majority of its clients are expected to come from the IT industry.
According to the agreement, IBM will make use of its advantages and resources in the IT industry to work out a total solution and build an advanced IT platform in the office building.