IBM is investing $360m (£182m) in two advanced delivery centres in Tokyo and North Carolina, to power cloud computing.

IBM plans to install high density computing systems in the US centre, using virtualisation technology, to reduce energy costs by running multiple software applications on the same servers.

The mechanical system design is 50 per cent more efficient than the industry average, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 31,799 tonnes a year, the company claimed.

Kyushu University in Japan will be stepping up its use of cloud computing, said Hiroto Yasuura, dean of graduate school of information science and electrical engineering at the institution.