IBM (IBM) is looking to sell its chip-making unit, apparently offering the business to Globalfoundries on top of a $1.5 billion payment. The deal would take the chip-maker off IBMs hands, as they continue to focus on software, services and the cloud.

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The Wall Street Journal reports IBM is in final meetings with Globalfoundries regarding the deal. IBM will be hosting an earnings call at 8AM (EST) to discuss the move, as well as its revenue and profits this quarter.

Bloomberg reports that IBM will gain $200 million in assets from the deal, dropping the price of removal down to $1.3 billion. This has not been confirmed by other sources, but it could be incentive for IBM to drop the chipmaker. 

IBMs chip making business has not made profit ever since the company moved away from hardware sales a few year ago, and the unit has become a burden on IBM's earnings reports. Several analysts and investors have pushed for a full move away from chip making.

This would follow a recent deal by IBM to sell its server business to Lenovo, who will use the x86 servers for China's massive online presence. The deal cost Lenovo $2.1 billion, even though IBM regularly reported losses in revenue year-on-year from the server business.

IBM and Globalfoundries have both declined to comment.

TagsGlobalfoundries, chip-making, processors