Computing giant IBM has enacted a fresh wave of job cuts, as its strategy of relocating roles to cheaper geographies continues apace.

According to IBM workers union Alliance@IBM, the number of jobs cut is at least 1,518, and they appear to have occurred mostly in the US.

The current round of redundancies – known as ‘resource actions’ within IBM – is the latest wave in the company’s ongoing project to relocate jobs to destinations such as India and China where technical skills are more cheaply available. An IBM spokesperson said yesterday that “we continually remix our skills and structure to meet the changing needs of our clients”.

In January 2009, Alliance@IBM predicted that as many as 16,000 redundancies would take place at the company later that year. The eventual number of cuts was significantly smaller.