WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2003
Motorola to launch research centre in China
REUTERS
BEIJING: US telecoms giant Motorola Inc plans to spend $100 million on a research and development centre in Beijing in a bid to tap the world's biggest mobile market, a company executive said on Tuesday.
"We plan to open the research and development centre as part of efforts to make China one of our global research and manufacturing centres," the executive quoted Timothy Chen, president of Motorola's China unit, as saying.
He offered no details on when construction would begin, but said the investment was part of plans to sink $6.6 billion in China till 2006 and double production in one of the world's few remaining high-growth telecoms markets.
The firm's total investment in China, which began in 1992, would reach about $10 billion by 2006, he said.
Motorola edged out Finnish handset rival Nokia in the first half of 2002 in China, a key battleground, keeping a leading share of the country's cellphone market.
Like many beleaguered telecoms firms, Illinois-based Motorola has been slashing jobs and restructuring itself amid the global telecoms spending malaise. It expects to earn 10 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2002 before items.
China had 200.3 million mobile users at the end of November 2002, the most in the world, official figures show.
Analysts said the research centre in Beijing fit neatly in line with Motorola's strategy to develop products in China for the domestic market.
Figures vary, but Norson Telecom Consulting said the firm sold 7.86 million handsets in the first half of 2002, trailed closely by Nokia with 6.51 million. The distant number three brand was Siemens with two million phones.
"Western handset makers are struggling with the onset of competition from Korean and domestic makers," said Craig Watts, a director at Norson. "They are looking to remain on top by moving up the technology value chain, by spending on R&D."
Copyright 2003 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.