Huawei picks Bristol for new £125m R&D centre
Huawei is to invest £125m in a new R&D centre in the English city of Bristol.
According to the company, the centre will initially employ 30 "high-calibre" employees who will focus on researching ICT chips and software, along with analogue chips. The plant, which Huawei hopes to have open before the end of the year, will complement its existing facility in Ipswich.
If all goes according to plan, Huawei will employ 300 people at the two plants by 2017, the company said.
Huawei's UK investments are part of its plan to create some 5,500 jobs in Europe; the continent is becoming a major focus for the company after encountering difficulties in the US.
Huawei and the US government have been at loggerheads over allegations that the company has engaged in intellectual property theft and may pose a security threat, claims denied by the company. While a White House review subsequently cleared Huawei of spying, the Shenzen-based firm described the US as a "commercial disappointment". However, it said earlier this year that it will not be pulling out of the country.
But as the US proves rocky for the Chinese giant, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne Osborne has been keen to court the company. Announcing the news this week, he hailed the new investment in the UK as a "testament to the outstanding quality of our highly skilled workforce".