IBM-Lenovo Server deal gets green light in China

Chinese Ministry of Commerce's anti-monopoly bureau has approved £2.3bn deal, but US approval is still pending

Lenovo’s plan to buy IBM’s low-end server business has taken another step forward after being given the thumbs up by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s anti-monopoly Bureau.

The deal, which mirrors Lenovo’s $1.75bn takeover of IBM’s PC division nine years ago, was first mooted back in January, and will see the Chinese vendor acquire IBM’s x86 business for $2.3bn.

It includes System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, blade networking and maintenance operations.

Although Lenovo chief executive Yang Yuanquing said the deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year, it is still awaiting US regulatory approval.

Some industry watchers have even predicted security concerns raised by the US government could sink the whole process.