Huawei to invest five billion yuan in 5G R&D

Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies announced on Thursday before the launch of the 2018 Mobile World Congress that this year it will invest five billion yuan in 5G research and development and start the commercialization its 5G technology, huanqiu.com reported on Friday.

Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies. [File photo: huanqiu.com]

Speaking at the event, Huawei's strategic marketing director William Xu said the company will launch its 5G-enabled Kirin chipsets and smartphones in 2019.

According to Xu, Huawei's put more than 12 billion US dollars into its R&D programs in 2017, ranking sixth globally. He said Huawei will keep the investment momentum in the next few years with an annual fund injection of 10 to 20 billion US dollars.

Yang Chaobin, director of the 5G product line at Huawei, said the company started research into the technology back in 2009, and that their commercialization of 5G products will start in 2018. Huawei has already conducted large-scale tests of 5G technology in South Korea and Canada.