KOCHI: US tech giant IBM is planning to make the IBM Lab in Kochi its development hub in India.
The announcement came during a press conference attended by IBM Senior Vice President Dinesh Nirmal and Industries Minister P Rajeeve.
Nirmal said IBM has opened its fifth software lab at Infopark in Kakkanad recently. "The centre is focusing on hybrid cloud, product engineering, and the design and development of new products and solutions in the areas of data, AI, and automation. Our plan is to make Kochi IBM the development hub of the nation," said Nirmal.
The headcount at Kochi IBM, which stood at 750 in March, doubled to 1,500 now.
Rajeeve said with IBM Lab in Kochi becoming the main centre of the country, it will be possible to bring back Malayali professionals working in different countries to Kerala. "Top global companies using IBM's software products are likely to move to Kerala. Several AI and data softwares are being used by many companies in the world and are being developed in Kerala," said the minister.
Meanwhile, it has been agreed to provide a full-time, remunerated internship for six months to the students of Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) and Kerala Technical University. Through this, the students will be facilitated to get international-level work experience during their studies.