A ministry in the Chinese government has granted its OK for the proposed $2.3 billion Lenovo-IBM x86 server deal.

U.S. regulators are still examining the sale, which was announced in January and would affect 2,000 IBM workers in RTP.

The deal has raised security concerns in the U.S.

However, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has granted approval to the companies to proceed, according to media reports. The deal was OK’d by an anti-monopoly bureau.

IBM employs several thousand workers and manufactures x86 servers in China.

Many Chinese workers went on strike when the sale to Lenovo was announced, and they were promised incentive payments to accept the deal.

Lenovo officials continue to express confidence that the U.S. will approve the deal.

Last week, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing reiterated that he expected the deal to close by the end of the year.

“There is no change to the plan,” Yuanqing about his company’s plan to acquire IBM’s x86 server businesses for some $2.3 billion.

Yang made his comment at a press conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The CEO remains confident even as the U.S. government continues to investigate the deal for possible security concerns.

According to website Wall Street Scope, Yang “didn’t make any comment on the security concerns. He just said that he cannot disclose the details of the ongoing discussions with regulators. However, he added that there is no security concerns linked with the deal.”

A week earlier, WRAL TechWire reported that Lenovo was still on track to close on its $5 billion dollars worth of acquisitions from IBM and Google before the end of the year.

The European Union approved the Lenovo-Google Motorola Mobility deal earlier this week.

“We don’t comment on regulatory review processes and we remain on track to close both deals by the end of the year,” Ray Gorman, executive director of communications for Lenovo, told WRAL TechWire.

Gorman responded to a query following a report from The Wall Street Journal that Lenovo was encountering difficulties in closing the deal with IBM for its x86 server business.

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