Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications equipment giant, opened its new research and development center in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province Monday.

The center, with 20 engineers, will initially develop parts forradio stations supporting the GSM, CDMA and WCDMA mobile phone systems for the global market. The company is seeking cooperation with local partners.

Ericsson has long been engaged in developing business in China's western regions, and the new R&D center will help improve the technology and service in the area, said Graeme McCusker, general manager of Ericsson western China region.

Ericsson now has regional centers in northern, southern, central and western China. Each center will take care of the clients and markets in the region.

The new R&D center will cover Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, Chongqing Municipality and Tibet Autonomous Region.

Ericsson has already established six R&D facilities in China, in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Qingdao, Dalian and Chengdu.

It now has four wholly-owned companies, 10 joint ventures and 26 representative offices across the country, with its full-line production capacity located in Beijing, Nanjing and Chongqing.

By the end of 2000, Ericsson had recorded an accumulated investment of 290 million US dollars in R&D and human resource development in China. The investment in R&D in China will hit 500 million dollars between 2001 and 2005.

Source: Xinhua