Huawei will invest €70 million into Irish research and development (R&D) over the next three years to support its growing business in Ireland.
The company said the investment will likely go towards video, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and site-reliability engineering, to "drive innovation and collaboration”.
Huawei’s Dublin R&D office is part of the tech giant’s European Research Institute, and combined with their Cork and Athlone offices, more than 100 researchers, experts and engineers are currently employed in R&D.
Huawei rotating chairman, Guo Ping said, “Ireland has outstanding talent and some of the best researchers in the world,” at the announcement in Shenzhen, China.
“Our focus is on long-term investment and building positive relationships with key partners in Ireland. This investment over three years will help us drive innovation and collaboration in Ireland,” added Jijay Shen, CEO of Huawei Ireland.
Huawei currently works with third level institutions including Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and University College Cork and helps to fund Irish research into video, AI and cloud computing.
The UK Government had also reportedly agreed to allow Huawei to supply equipment to help build the UK's 5G network infrastructure earlier in the year. However the decision as to whether the firm should be excluded from the rollout of 5G mobile networks is hoped to be made by the end of the year, a cabinet minister has said.
"I would hope that we could do something by the autumn, but we want to make the right decision and we've got to make sure that this is going to be a decision for the long term, making sure we keep all our networks secure," Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The US banned companies from selling components and technology to Huawei and 68 related companies on 15 May, citing national security concerns.
Source: Tech Central, BBC
