Photo/VCG

Feb. 28 (NBD) – Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, announced on Thursday that it will build a new plant in France to manufacture next-generation 5G-related equipment.

This will be Huawei's first manufacturing factory in Europe. It's noticed that the Chinese telecoms giant would invest 200 million euros (222 million U.S. dollars) in setting up the mobile equipment plant.

Liang Hua, chairman of the tech giant, told a press conference in Paris that the site will supply the entire European market, not only France's. Earlier this month, French authorities said that they would not exclude Huawei from the country's 5G rollout, but the government will set "restrictions" to protect France's sovereignty and address potential security risks.

According to Huawei, the new facilities will set up a display center, demonstrating the production of base stations, software loading and tests to telecoms operators, authorities and related departments, in a proactive response to "digital sovereignty" in Europe.

Huawei expects the site to bring an annual output value of 1 billion euros and to directly create 500 jobs. Having established a presence in Europe for 20 years, Huawei now has over 12,000 employees and has created 170,000 jobs, directly or indirectly, in the region.

Email: limenglin@nbd.com.cn