According to a Government of Ontario news release, the Canadian arm of Chinese technology firm Huawei will open new research labs in Waterloo and Markham, Ontario, and will expand an existing lab in Ottawa. Ontario’s government also announced that Huawei will create 250 research and development jobs and invest C$212 million as part of this expansion.
The province will add an additional C$16 million to the investment through its Jobs and Prosperity Fund, while the total invested by Huawei into Ontario-based research initiatives over the next five years will be C$303 million. The Jobs and Prosperity Fund is intended to attract more than C$1 billion into Ontario by investing C$2.7 billion over a period of ten years. Huawei initially pledged to create 250 R&D jobs and invest C$210 million in Ontario during Premier Kathleen Wynne’s 2014 trade mission to China, with this recent announcement adding onto 2014’s agreement.
Another new Huawei R&D location in the United States was also announced this week, with plans to hire approximately 100 workers for an office 19 kilometres east of Seattle. This office will be 11,000 square feet large, giving the company an increased American presence in a country where it already has around 100 research projects with more than 50 universities. Huawei saw 2015’s global shipments increase by nearly 45%, and has 70,000 R&D employees around the world. Globally, Huawei employs 150,000, and serves over a third of the world’s population in over 170 countries and regions.