American multinational company IBM has confirmed closing a research center of more than 25 years in China, and attributed its decision to a need to adapt to the global development of hybrid cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

The IBM China Research Laboratory, opened in 1995 in Beijing, was one of 12 research centers of the company worldwide. Rumors surfaced on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Saturday as an internet user said that the company had quietly shut down the facility.

In response to the claim, the tech giant said that the company remained committed to serving the needs of Chinese customers while changing its research and development approach to suit the market.

“In order to best support Chinese clients in their journeys to AI and hybrid cloud, and to help them capitalize on national investments in infrastructure and the digital economy, IBM is transforming our research and development approach for the Chinese market,” the company said in a statement sent to state-run Global Times.

Chinese clients would benefit from a new innovation model with local IBM experts that would provide practical and collaborative solutions by leveraging the IBM China Development Lab, the IBM China Systems Lab and its network of client centers across the country, the statement said.

The tech giant did not disclose details of the plan to adjust its business strategy or the number of staffers affected.

Mainland media reported that IBM intended to consolidate all of its R&D departments in China, to be led by Xie Dong, the chief technology officer of IBM Greater China.

At the now-defunct China Research Laboratory, research had been going on in many areas, with the main focus on the technological creation and application of big data analysis, cloud computing, Internet of Things and cognitive computing.

Quite a few foreign technological companies, such as Yahoo and Oracle, had shuttered their research centers in China in recent years amid a failure to generate much economic benefits, Sina.com reported in an economic article.

Industry analysts believed that the exits were part of strategic adjustments adopted by foreign companies to cope with the decoupling of technology between China and the United States.

Meanwhile, Chinese technological giants such as Huawei have started setting up their own R&D facilities across the country, in sharp contrast to the departures of the foreign players.

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