IBM said on Friday it allows certain countries to review, under strict control, portions of the U.S. technology company's product source code to detect any security flaws in its software.
China is among those countries, a person familiar with the company's policy there said.
The reviews must be done using an IBM security application and the company "does not let people take the code out of the room," the source said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Without mentioning China, IBM said in a statement that "strict procedures are in place within these technology demonstration centers to ensure that no software source code is released, copied or altered in any way."
"IBM does not provide government access to client data or back doors into our technology," the company added.