IBM plans Shanghai R&D center

IBM is planning to open a research facility in Shanghai, its first new research center in a decade, the Wall Street Journal reported. The lab will focus on building new applications for the internet and small businesses. John E. Kelly III, IBM’s director of research, said China’s population, economic growth and large number of private enterprises present a "huge laboratory" for the company, and that its customers have recently gravitated toward China. IBM has eight R&D centers worldwide, but has not opened a new one since building two facilities in India. The Shanghai lab will be an extension of the company’s lab in Beijing, which it opened in 1995. Other technology companies, including Google and Microsoft, have expanded their R&D presence in China.