Huawei to build 400-person chip plant near Arm Holdings headquarters in Cambridge
Huawei is planning to build a 400-person chip research and development factory in the centre of the UK's silicon chip industry, just outside of Cambridge.
The Chinese telcoms group wants to develop the chips used in broadband networks at a base in Sawston, seven miles outside of Cambridge and just 15 minutes from Arm Holdings' headquarters, according to the Financial Times.
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Chief executive of Huawei Technologies R&D UK, Henk Koopmans, said he purchased the 550-acre site for £37.5m last year.
The facility, where former stationary business Spicers used to reside, is due to be operational by 2021 and would create around 400 jobs for the area.
Huawei plans to build several tall buildings on the land and has said it could fund a new medical centre, bus stop or whatever the local residents wanted on an unused part of the site.
The firm has also said it could eventually develop artificial intelligence there.
The nearby Arm Holdings, which is the UK's biggest technology company, has invested heavily in its workforce in the area and is part of the reason Cambridge has become a silicon centre specialising in chips.
Of the thousands of people Huawei employ in the UK, around 120 are in Cambridge.
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The move to the area comes as part of an expansion into the university town. The firm is carrying out a five-year £3bn investment plan for the UK that the prime minister co-announced in February 2018.
Huawei want to continue collaborating with Cambridge university and targetting their graduates, and have five-year partnership with BT to fund research there worth £25m.