http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsA...oryID=6314052§ion=news
Cisco Sees China as Center of World Tech Market
Thu 23 September, 2004 11:13
By Eric Auchard and Daniel Sorid
BEIJING (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO.O Chief Executive John Chambers said China was well on the way to becoming the world's technology hub as he revealed plans for his company's first research center in the country.
"China will become the IT (information technology) center of the world," Chambers told a Beijing news conference on Thursday.
Cisco, the world's largest maker of equipment for directing Internet traffic, said it would invest $32 million over five years in a research center in the Chinese coastal city of Shanghai.
The facility will hire 100 employees over the next 18 months, and investigate new voice technologies.
"What we are announcing today is the first of many steps we will take in research and development" in China, Chambers said.
The company is joining top U.S. and European technology companies such as Motorola Inc. MOT.N , Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O IBM IBM.N , SAP AG SAPG.DE and Oracle Corp ORCL.O that have set up sales and manufacturing centers and research and development facilities in China.
This expansion is largely aimed at serving China's booming economy, but comes amid growing concerns in the United States about job losses at home.
"China will become the largest economy in the world," he said. "Now we can debate about whether that occurs in 2020 and 2040."
Chambers said that over the next decade, half of Cisco's top 12 business partners and half of its main competitors would come from China. He singled out one rival, Chinese equipment vendor Huawei.
Cisco dropped a high-profile patent infringement lawsuit against Huawei in July after Huawei agreed to make changes to its products.
Cisco is the world's leading supplier of network gear, but contract manufacturers, many of them in Asia, make most of its products.
The company, with encouragement from Chinese government leaders, has encouraged these contractors to relocate operations to China as a show of commitment to the burgeoning economy, as well as to cut costs.
Chambers' ties to China began when he worked for Wang Laboratories as first non-Asian head of the computer maker's Asia-Pacific operations.
Upon arriving at Cisco 10 years ago, his first major decision as chief executive was to invest in China.
At the time, U.S. companies were only beginning to reinvest there after pulling back following the government crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.
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Kraj zapadne civilizacije: KINA
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