Chinese nationals disembark in Campinas.
Huawei, Asia's largest telecommunications company, will invest US$350 million in the interior of São Paulo state.
On the first day of her visit to China, President Dilma Rousseff celebrated the US$350 million investment announced by Huawei for the construction of a Research and Development center in Campinas (São Paulo state). Dilma met today with Ren Zhengfei, CEO of Huawei, and heard from the executive that the Chinese company intends to expand its business in Brazil, where it has been operating since 1999.
A leader in the fixed and mobile broadband market, Huawei also announced the donation of state-of-the-art computing equipment to Brazilian universities, worth US$50 million, over a ten-year period. Currently, the company holds 70% of the national market for 3G USB modems, with more than one million terminals sold since the system's implementation in the country.
"We started President Dilma's visit to China on the right foot," summarized the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Fernando Pimentel. The president will also meet with Foxconn executives and visit the ZTE plant in the city of Xi'an on Friday.
The government expects ZTE, a telecommunications equipment manufacturer, to invest US$200 million in setting up a factory in Hortolândia (São Paulo state). "All this activity is related to the National Broadband Plan, since large companies want to partner with Brazilian companies to become suppliers in this new phase," said Pimentel. "For us, this is very good. We don't want to import equipment, but rather develop and manufacture it in Brazil."
Scholarships
The US$350 million investment announced by Huawei includes scholarships and the hiring of researchers. The company expects to generate 1,000 direct jobs with the construction of the Research and Development center. Huawei's reported revenue in Brazil in 2008 reached US$1 billion. The company maintains a training center in Campinas, in addition to offices in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília.
Dilma wants to change the profile of the trade partnership with China so that the Asian country starts buying manufactured goods from Brazil. "China is currently a major buyer of commodities, such as iron ore, oil, and soybeans, but we want to improve our relationship," commented Pimentel. "The objective of President Dilma's visit is precisely to inaugurate a new phase, so that we can also be partners in the area of science, technology, and research," the minister emphasized.