Nation's telecom equipment giants plunging resources into R&D sector
The Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp are trying to further build their strengths in innovation and provide secure products to customers.
Founded in the 1980s, the two companies, both based in the coastal city of Shenzhen, in South China, have quickly become leaders in the world's telecom industry and rising stars in the protection of intellectual property.
Huawei had $32.4 billion in revenues in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 11.7 percent. It has been the world's second-largest maker of telecommunications equipment measured by revenue since 2009, beating Nokia Corp, Siemens AG and Alcatel Lucent SA in that regard, and only coming in behind the Stockholm-based Ericsson.
ZTE owes its quick rise in part to its expansion around the world, especially into some emerging markets. ZTE is the world's fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer measured by shipments and the fifth-largest seller of telecommunications equipment.
Many such companies' strategies place an emphasis on the need for innovation. ZTE, for example, invests an average of more than 10 percent of its total annual revenue into research and development every year. In the past three years, ZTE's investments into R&D surpassed 20 billion yuan ($3.21 billion), the company said.
"We believe human resources are the most important intangible asset a company has," said Wang Haibo, ZTE director of intellectual property.
About 40 percent of the 30,000 employees at ZTE now undertake R&D work. The company has more people performing that sort of work than any other listed Chinese company.
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