IBM Costa Rica Delivery Center Deepens New Latin America Push

By David Zielenziger | May 10 2012 1:35 PM

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), the No. 2 computer maker, opened a new services delivery center in Costa Rica, spearheading a $300 million investment there.

REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate

People swim in the Celeste river waterfall at Tenorio Volcano National Park in Upala, Costa Rica, March 18, 2008. The blue color of the lagoon, formed from chemical reactions of calcium carbonate and sulfur, is surrounded by amazing rainforest of 12,819 hectares of this park. The Celeste River carries its color for a distance of 36 km (22 miles). Travel advisors at Virtuoso voted Costa Rica as the most popular adventure travel destination in the list 2011 Virtuoso Luxe Report. Though Costa Rica has slipped to second slot in 2012, it offers extensive adventure travel experience ranging from white water rafting, canyoning, hiking, biking and more.

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Within two years, the new IBM center is expected to employ as many as 1,000 Costa Ricans to help IBM expand business opportunities in the fast-growing Central American country.

President Laura Chinchilla told guests at the opening of the center in San Jose on Thursday, This partnership between IBM and Costa Rica , as we engage in this adventure towards a more more moern and technologial world, is essential to our country.

The Costa Rica push is the latest into Latin America for Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM which already this year announced major new investments in Brazil and Peru.

Last month, IBM won a $1 billion contract to provide technology services for 10 years to companies owned by tycoon Eike Batista. Besides acquiring a stake in a subsidiary of his EBX Group, which has interests throughout Latin America, IBM established a research center in Rio de Janeiro to employ as many as 100 and won a contract from that city, host of the 2016 Summer Olympics, for its Smarter Cities initiative.

In Peru, Banco de Credito del Peru gave IBM a five-year $100 million outsourcing contract. IBM said it will spend $8 million by the end of 2012 to build a data center in Peru.

The company said it's invested more than $500 million in data centers in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay.

In 2011, 42 percent of the company's record $106.9 billion revenue came from the Americas, including Latin America. That segment rose 7.3 percent. From Latin American growth markets, the company said revenue rose nearly 17 percent.

Shares of IBM fell 63 cents to $200.60 in Thursday trading.