Nokia to build new China hub
By Li Weitao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-24 09:19
Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, will invest more than 450 million
yuan (US$56.3 million) to build its new China headquarters in
Beijing.
The Finnish firm yesterday began construction of the campus in
the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA).
The campus
will be a new hub for Nokia's activities in China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan
and Macao.
Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jorma Ollila said
the campus will also include Nokia's research and development (R&D) centres
and its existing mobile phone manufacturing base.
The campus is scheduled
to open in late 2007 and will host more than 1,500 of Nokia's staff from
R&D, sales and marketing, pre-production, logistics, sourcing and
manufacturing.
More than 2,000 Nokia employees are expected to be based
at the new hub. Currently Nokia employs more than 6,000 people in China,
including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.
Ollila said development of the Nokia
China campus will be a "big milestone" in the firm's operations in the
country.
The campus will be one of the largest mobile communications
parks in the world, integrating R&D, product design, supply of components
and spare parts, logistics, manufacturing activities and regional
headquarters.
"For us, it will integrate all parts of our operations in
one location, providing unique opportunities for the exchange of information and
ideas, as well as for very effective operations across all of Nokia and with our
partners," said Ollila.
In 2000, Nokia established its Xingwang
(International) Industrial Park in the BDA, one of its major global production
bases.
The park attracted nearly 20 leading mobile phone component
suppliers and service providers with 30,000 employees and a total investment of
10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion).
The park's annual sales exceeded 70
billion yuan (US$8.75 billion) last year. And more than half of the handsets
made on site were exported.
Zhang Boxu, director of the BDA
administrative committee, said the campus will be an extension of the Xingwang
model, integrating all parts of the industry chain in a single
location.
Nokia is the first multinational company to build its China
headquarters in the BDA area.
With increasing activities and expanding
staff numbers, major global telecommunications companies are rushing to
establish new headquarters in China.
Canada's Nortel Networks in 2004
committed US$200 million over three years to build its new China headquarters
and R&D centre.
And Sweden-based Ericsson, the world's largest mobile
phone network maker, invested 400 million yuan (US$50 million) in late 2004 to
build its new China headquarters, which could be operational this
year.
Motorola has also poured US$90 million into building a new office
complex in China.
Nortel, Ericsson and Motorola all chose the Wangjing zone
of Beijing for their new China headquarters.
Insiders said Nokia opted
for the BDA as the land supply in Wangjing is already inadequate to host its
ever-growing expansion in China.
The BDA will become "a true world-class
end-to-end business park that over time will potentially rival the reputations
of the world famous high-tech business parks in the Silicon Valley and other
parts of the world," Ollila said.
Nokia's annual net sales in China
including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao last year surged by 29 per cent to
3.85 billion euros (US$4.95 billion).
China is now Nokia's largest single
market.
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