14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese telecommunications equipment provider and handset maker ZTE recently announced that it has signed 3-years purchase agreements with five major U.S. technology vendors, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Freescale, Altera and Broadcom.
The deal is valued at almost 3 billion USD and marks ZTE's commitment to the US market, despite all the hostility that the Chinese companies have to put up in the US.
According to ZTE's official announcement, under these framework agreements, the company will purchase semiconductor components from the above mentioned vendors.
“As a publicly traded and transparent company with more than 18.72% equity owned by European and American investors, we believe it is very important for ZTE to cooperate with U.S. partners and continue to increase our investment in the U.S. market,” said Mr. Ye Weimin, Senior Vice President of ZTE Corporation.
“We are keen to deepen our relationships with both U.S. suppliers and telecom carriers in order to meet the needs of our U.S. customers and provide highly secure and innovative products and solutions. It’s an exciting time for ZTE and we are very optimistic about what can come from today’s signed agreements,” added Weimin.
ZTE is not new on the telecom market in the US, as the company paid over USD $4 billion to U.S. vendors for intellectual property and hardware products in the past.
To be able to compete with major players on the market such as Ericsson and Nokia Siemens, ZTE is committing about 10% of its revenue into the research and development of products.
At the moment, the Chinese company owns 15 research centers around the globe with more than 30,000 employees. ZTE's dedication to innovation and research led to the company's ownership of at least 30,000 telecom patents and 5,000 PCT apps.
Still, even with the new agreements, ZTE will have a hard time on the US market, as Nokia Siemens has bought Motorola's Networking division earlier this year.