Huawei has announced that it is to open a new research and development facility in the UK, creating more than 200 new jobs.
George Osborne, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, was at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, China, to hear the announcement. He met Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, toured the Huawei R&D laboratories, and chaired a meeting of UK high-tech companies visiting China.
At the meeting, Zhengfei confirmed that the new R&D centre will be opened as part of a US$2 billion investment commitment to the UK. Currently, Huawei employs 80 engineers in its UK R&D office in Ipswich. Following today's announcement, Huawei says it will will employ a total of 300 staff in high-tech R&D positions in the UK by 2017. Investment in the new centre will be US$200 million, with research focusing on optoelectronics, device design, software development, and other fields.
During Osborne's visit, Huawei hosted a delegation of 20 UK high-tech companies. The delegation also met teams from Huawei R&D, procurement, corporate development, and other departments, to explore more opportunities for commercial co-operation. A number of the high-tech companies comprising the delegation already work closely with Huawei, including BT.
Osborne said: 'One of the most exciting opportunities for collaboration between Britain and China in the next step of our relationship is between our cutting edge, high-tech companies. So I am delighted to be visiting Huawei's headquarters with leaders of some of Britain's most entrepreneurial tech companies to welcome Huawei's investment into the UK.'
Zhengfei added: 'The UK is home to some of the best high-tech professionals in the world. Their creativity is a major asset to our R&D efforts, helping us produce the most advanced and competitive telecoms and broadband services available. Combined with an open and free-trade economy, this makes it a very good investment environment for Huawei. I have every confidence in Huawei's future in the UK.'
