COMPUTER giant IBM is reportedly planning its largest corporate layoff ever — cutting 111,800 of its staff.

A report by a respected Silicon Valley journalist claimed today that around 26 per cent of the company’s 430,000-strong workforce will be cut later this week.

If the reports are accurate it would be the largest corporate jobs cull in history.

The previous largest corporate redundancy was also carried out by IBM, when it cut 60,000 staff in 1993.

The reorganisation — codenamed Project Chrome — will supposedly pave the way for IBM to focus on cloud computing, rather than its traditional hardware business.

Reporter Robert Cringely wrote in Forbes magazine: “To fix its business problems and speed up its transformation, next week about 26 per cent of IBM employees will be getting phone calls from their managers.

“A few hours later a package will appear on their doorsteps with all the paperwork,” he added dismally.

He said that while there would be a significant number of jobs lost in the US, the axe would fall on all of IBM’s locations around the world.

However, some technology commentators have said they are sceptical about the size of the reported cuts.

IBM was founded in 1911 and currently creates hardware and software, providing infrastructure, hosting and consulting services.

It has revenue of around $90bn (£60bn) and is one of the most profitable companies in the US.