COMPUTERS : IBM Begins Cutting 10,000 Jobs in Europe : Technology: Four factories are told that they must improve performance during the next year.

IBM Europe has begun eliminating nearly 10,000 jobs and told four plants in Britain, France, Spain and Sweden to cut their losses over the next 12 months, the computer company’s European unit said Thursday.

They are among measures by U.S.-based International Business Machines Corp. to streamline operations after losing about $5 billion worldwide last year. The company has begun similar employee cuts in the United States.

The previously announced European cutbacks were announced as Louis V. Gerstner Jr. took over as IBM’s chairman and chief executive.

Among IBM’s 11 plants in six European countries, 2,600 jobs--about 10% of the total factory work force--are to be eliminated in 1993, spokesman Alan Gillings said.

He said 7,000 other positions in marketing and service are also to be cut this year from IBM Europe’s work force, which totaled 90,000 at the end of 1992.

“We have begun cutting the jobs, but it’s mostly severance packages, and all voluntary so far,” Gillings said in a telephone interview.

The planned reductions were first announced in December as part of 25,000 worldwide in 1993, Gillings said. No figures were available on exactly how many jobs have been cut in Europe since then.

Four European factories must improve operations over the next year, especially by selling their products not only within IBM but also to other clients, said Gillings.

“It’s a question of overcapacity,” he said.