San Francisco - Hewlett Packard, the world's largest computer maker, is to cut 24,600 jobs over three years as part of its plan to integrate enterprise technology firm Electronic Data Systems Corp, the company announced Monday.

The cuts represent about 7.5 per cent of HP's workforce and will force HP to take a 1.7-billion-dollar charge.

HP bought EDS in March for 13.2 billion dollars. The combined company had a workforce of 320,000 employees.

Half of the job cuts will be made in the US, but HP expects to replace roughly half of these positions over the next three years to "address the diversity of its markets and customers worldwide," HP said. (dpa)