IBM has today announced a $1.2bn (£735m) commitment to “expand its global footprint”, building data centres to cover all geographies and financial centres.

“Today’s announcement is another major step in driving a global expansion of IBM’s cloud footprint and helping clients drive transformation,” thundered Erich Clementi, IBM global technology services SVP in a statement.

IBM plans to open 15 data centres in the coming year, to add to its 12 already deployed and the baker’s dozen it picked up following the $2bn acquisition of SoftLayer last year. Armonk claims the acquisition has helped pick up 2400 clients.

The new data centres will be launched in China – joining a long list of firms with the same idea – Hong Kong, India and Japan, alongside Dallas, London, Mexico City and Washington DC.

You’ve got to spend money to make money, as the old saying goes, and IBM certainly …