This is the first time a global IBM organization has been established outside the United States.

The new base will be located in Shenzhen, where the company already has 1,850 employees involved in procurement. IBM said that no jobs will be lost in New York as a result of the move. The Big Apple office will continue to function as a global procurement unit.

Chief procurement officer, John Paterson, who will head up the Shenzhen office, said global businesses must now locate their business units wherever makes the most sense, based on "the imperatives of economics, expertise and open environments".

IBM has had one of its largest procurement bases outside the United States in Shenzhen for more than a decade. With 30 percent of its annual US$40 billion procurement budget spent with Asian suppliers, IBM said the shift to China makes sense.