IBM Guangdong plant hit by strike over workers' severance package

"Workers at ISTC's x86 server segment are free to make their own decisions. If they decide to stay at the factory, they will receive benefits similar to current levels," IBM told China Daily in an e-mailed statement.

"Although it is left to the workers to decide, we hope they will stay at ISTC," the statement said.

Lenovo declined to comment on the incident, saying the acquisition hasn't been completed yet and the strike is an "internal matter" for IBM.

The strike will have a limited impact on Lenovo's acquisition plan, analysts said.

"The strike is not likely to affect the ongoing acquisition process, although it challenges IBM's ability to handle the divestment of unwanted assets," said Gene Cao, senior analyst at Forrester Research Inc.

IBM has a number of assets in hardware manufacturing it still wants to sell.

Because the deal is still awaiting approval from the United States government, IBM has time to handle the incident, said Cao.

"As for Lenovo, it is very experienced in handling ripples in acquisitions and I am not worried at all," he said.

Chinese workers organized a number of strikes in 2013 against international acquisitions because of "unfair" benefit arrangements.

For example, in November, employees at a Nokia Oyj factory in Dongguan, Guangdong protested severance terms after the Finland-based smartphone company sold the plant to Microsoft Corp.