Seven-year agreement signed between IBM and Acer

International Business Machines of the US and Taiwan''s Acer group have finalised a seven-year procurement and technology alliance. According to a joint statement of the two companies issued from Taipei, Acer will purchase hard disk drives, display technology, networking and microelectronics from IBM for integration into its server, desktop and notebook computer products.

The value of the purchase agreement is expected to be about $8 billion. The two companies also have plans for manufacturing collaboration, exchange of complementary technology and joint development.

Acer is among the world''s leading PC manufacturers, and has a strong technology base in the personal computer market. Acer chairman and founder Stan Shih said the companies will make these technologies increasingly popular so as to derive mutual benefits. He also said that the deal demonstrates Acer''s commitment to have more co-operation in future.

For IBM, this is the biggest deal in a series of multi-year agreements it has signed that aggregate $28 billion. The deals are generally for supply of advanced IBM components to customers such as PC maker Dell Computer Corp.