IBM layoffs are under way in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. A spokesperson calls the cuts a "relatively small action," according to WRAL. IBM's spin on the situation is a familiar one -- as the company looks to "remix" (aka rebalance) its talent, trading out legacy skills for cognitive computing and cloud services expertise.
IBM's layoffs are a particularly challenging topic. The company has made multiple cuts this year, and at least three rounds of layoffs occurred in 2016 -- though IBM never officially confirmed the number of employees impacted. The latest cuts apparently included IBM's Power business, according to the WRAL report. Power systems compete against high-end Oracle, HP Enterprise and Dell hardware.
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CEO Ginny Rometty has taken some heat for IBM's staffing-related communications. In an apparent attempt to impress the incoming Trump administration, Rometty in December 2016 said IBM planned to hire 25,000 professionals in the U.S. over the next four years.
The statement drew criticism from employees who said IBM has repeatedly sidestepped questions about layoff figures in recent years. Also, some IBM employees have called on Rometty to distance the company from President Trump and his administration's policies.
Meanwhile, IBM isn't the only hardware giant making cuts. Many of the company's rivals have trimmed their staffs amid the shift to cloud-centric revenue models.
