IBM and Acer broadened their technology partnership today announcing a seven-year, $8 billion deal that has the two buying various computer technology and hardware from each other.
The agreement has IBM selling a wide range of microprocessors, hard drives, networking and display products to Acer. Acer will sell some of these through its Asian and Middle Eastern distribution system and will integrate the rest into PCs it already produces for IBM, said Stan Shih, Acer’s CEO.
Part of the deal has Acer producing LCD panels for IBM to help Big Blue make up for the current shortage the industry is suffering through.
IBM has targeted technology partnerships, software and services as the three primary areas it plans to grow in the coming years. Prior to today’s agreement with Acer, IBM inked similar deals with Dell and Nintendo.
