RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – IBM on Thursday confirmed that the tech giant has cut jobs in its high-profile Watson Health business unit, including some at its operations in the Triangle.

However, a spokesperson for Big Blue denied that the layoffs were massive as reported by some media outlets and noted that the company continues to hire.

“We’re not discussing specific numbers,” IBM’s Doug Shelton told WRAL TechWire.

“It’s a small percentage of our global Watson Health workforce, as we move to more technology-intensive offerings, simplified processes and automation to drive speed.”

The Watson Health layoffs are part of an effort to “re-position” the business unit’s focus, he added.

“IBM is continuing to re-position our team to align with our focus on the high-value segments of the IT market,” Shelton explained.

“We continue to hire aggressively in critical new areas that deliver value for our clients and IBM.”

WRAL TechWire first reported the layoffs began last week.

One worker, speaking about the layoffs which hit without warning on Thursday, told WRAL TechWire: “It was an ugly day.”

IBMers reported  the job cuts in posts at a Facebook page devoted to coverage of IBM workforce issues. Additional post have been made throughout the day Friday.

Two of the first posts about what IBM calls a “resource action” came from Triangle-based workers.

“Lots of Truven folks in RTP laid off today,” one employee noted.

Added another: “Yes I am [in] Watson Health in Durham and was RA’d today. Former Truven employee.”

Truven refers to a health data analytics company that IBM acquired in 2016 for $2.6 billion. Truven, which was based in Michigan, had operations in Durham that were acquired as part of the deal.

Truven was one of several acquisitions IBM has made in the digital health sector as it expanded the role of Watson, its artificial intelligence group. Watson is one of the pillars of the reorganization strategy from hardware to software, AI, analytics and cloud put in place by current chair and CEO Ginni Rometty.

These are not the first cuts being made this year among units that have been emphasized by Rometty. Other layoffs were made in March. Somke cuts were made among Truven workers last summer as well.

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Also last week, Rometty said that IBM would be adding 1,800 jobs – so-called “new collar” postions – in AI and other emerging initiatives.

IBM operates one of its largest campuses in RTP and employs several thousand workers across the state.

The RTP campus includes workers focusing on various Watson initiatives as well as cloud computing. One of the tech giant’s newest data centers in located in the Triangle.