SAN FRANCISCO, US, Sept 15, 2008 (AFP) - US technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) said Monday it would cut 24,600 jobs worldwide over the next three years as part of its integration with computer services firm Electronic Data Systems.

The job cuts would allow HP "to restructure the EDS business group to streamline costs, invest in growth and drive shareholder value," HP said in a statement.

About 7.5 percent of the combined workforce would be affected, with about half of the cuts taking place in the United States, HP said.

The workforce reduction aims to "streamline the combined company's services businesses," and once complete was expected to "result in annual cost savings of approximately 1.8 billion dollars."

In May, HP inked a deal to buy the Texas-based technology company for 25 dollars per share. After approval by shareholders as well as US and foreign regulators, the acquisition was finalized in August.

The new HP services includes annual revenues of more than 38 billion dollars and 210,000 employees, operating in more than 80 countries.

The deal was expected to create a global powerhouse in computer services to compete against IBM.

Northern California-based HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling 110.4 billion dollars for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2008.