IBM, following the closure of its China Research Laboratory earlier this year, is now facing fresh reports of layoffs in the region. According to Chinese media Jiemian News, over 1,000 employees across Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, and other locations have recently had their access to IBM’s research and testing systems revoked. Affected staff have been notified to attend an online meeting on August 26.

Jiemian News reported on the 24th that several IBM China employees confirmed the access revocations occurred the previous evening. A lab technician noted that there were no prior warnings, with employees continuing their regular work hours—even working overtime—until the sudden access shutdown. Those impacted have been removed from the company’s product group chats and are unable to access the internal network via VPN, although they still have email access.

The affected employees are primarily from IBMV, which is under the IBM China Development Center and IBM China Systems Center, focusing on research and testing. The revocations span multiple cities, involving over 1,000 staff.

Jiemian News reached out to IBM China for comment, but no response had been received at the time of publication.

IBM has undergone several rounds of layoffs globally in the past two years. In January 2023, the company announced 3,900 job cuts, and later that year, it paused hiring while planning to replace nearly 8,000 roles with AI. Reports from March indicated some departments faced cuts as high as 80%.

IBM China has also seen layoffs over the past year. An internal employee noted that a product line at the China Development Center was axed last year, and some workers reported receiving layoff notices in March, with their departures finalized by late July.

In addition to the changes at IBM China, the Central News Agency reported that China’s economy is currently in a downturn. Earlier, online rumors suggested that Microsoft would close all of its physical stores across China starting July 1, leaving only its official online store and JD.com flagship store. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to the media that the company has decided to streamline its sales channels in China, and customers can still purchase products and access services through retail partners and the official website.

According to the latest report from China’s Yicai, IBM has confirmed it will completely shut down its R&D division in China, impacting over 1,000 employees. While IBM’s primary clients in the region have historically been large state-owned enterprises in critical sectors like finance and energy, the company now plans to shift its focus to serving private enterprises in China and select multinational companies operating there.

(Photo credit: IBM)

As AI applications become more widespread, there is an urgent need to improve energy efficiency. Traditional AI processes are known as power-hungry due to the constant data transferring between logic and memory. However, according to the reports by Tom’s Hardware and Innovation News Network, researchers in the U.S. may have come up with a solution: computational random-access memory (CRAM), which is said to reduce energy consumption by AI by 1,000 times or more.

According to the reports, researchers at the University of Minnesota, after over 20 years of research, have developed a new generation of phase-change memory that can significantly reduce energy consumption in AI applications.

Citing the research, Tom’s Hardware explains that in current AI computing, data is frequently transferred between processing components (logic) and storage (memory). This constant back-and-forth movement of information can consume up to 200 times more energy than the actual computation.

However, with the so-called CRAM, data can be processed entirely within the memory array without having to leave the grid where it is stored. Computations can be performed directly within memory cells, eliminating the slow and energy-intensive data transfers common in traditional architectures.

According to Innovation News Network, machine learning inference accelerators based on CRAM could achieve energy savings of up to 1,000 times, with some applications realizing reductions of 2,500 and 1,700 times compared to conventional methods.

The reports note further that the patented technology is related to Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJs), which are nanostructured devices used in hard drives, sensors, and various microelectronic systems, including Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM).

It is worth noting that among Taiwanese companies, NOR flash memory company Macronix may be the one with the most progress. According to a report by the Economic Daily, Macronix has been collaborating with IBM to develop the phase-change memory technology for over a decade, with AI applications as their main focus. Currently, Macronix is IBM’s sole partner for phase-change memory.

The report notes that the joint development program between Macronix and IBM is organized in three-year phases. At the end of each phase, the two companies decide whether to sign a new agreement based on the situation.

Read more

• [News] MRDIMM/MCRDIMM to be the New Sought-Afters in Memory Field

(Photo credit: npj Unconventional Computing)