Top > Webmaster > 2007 > April > 2007-04-26

Microsoft to Expand R&D Operations in China

Bill Gates, chairman of the Redmond, Washington headquartered, Microsoft, said Microsoft will dramatically increase its investment in research and development (R&D), at the opening speech of the Boao Forum for Asia on southern China`s Hainan island. "We are initiating new campuses in Beijing and Shanghai,`` Gates said. "We see us and other major players doing this expansion throughout Asia." Microsoft opened its first research center in Asia 10 years ago. According to Microsoft China Research & Development Group`s website, the company employs some 1,200 people as of October, in its centers in Beijing and Shanghai.

The Chinese software market is plagued by piracy. According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a lobby group of copyright holders, about 82 percent of Chinese business software was pirated, last year, costing companies including Microsoft $1.9 billion in lost potential sales. In order to combat this phenomena, Microsoft announced it will sell $3 student software packages, in an effort to increase sales in the country. Normally, a package like this would cost somewhere between $100 and $200. The decision to offer the discount package is drawn from the fact that most Chinese can`t afford Microsoft`s Windows and Office`s retail prices, while, pirated copies of these programs are sold for about $1 each.

"Not only is Asia benefiting from the use of technology, Asia will also be the source of breakthrough and advances in technology," Gates said at the Boao Forum. Adding the company will "more than double the capacity we have to hire R&D staff," with out specifying how many new positions will be added or even how many new research centers will be opened. One research center that was announced will be established in collaboration with Lenovo Group Ltd., the largest seller of computers in China.