Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei has launched a worldwide design contest for its Wuhan research and development center, in which the company will invest CNY5 billion, and the construction for this new R&D center will formally start in 2012.

Inspur Group, parent of Inspur International Limited, has announced that it has acquired the Xi'an research and development center of the German-based memory chip maker Qimonda AG for CNY30 million.

U.S.-based information management company EMC Corporation has announced plans to upgrade its China R&D Center into a new R&D group.

According to Chen Min, vice president of the Shenzhen-based PC company Hasee Computer, with the improvement of the cross-strait relationship, Hasee will enhance cooperation with Taiwan and the company is considering setting up a research and development center on the island.

According to an insider, the international Internet giant Yahoo has set up a global research and development center in Beijing, which is reportedly an important turning point forYahoo's worldwide Internet strategy.

China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMI) held a foundation-laying ceremony for two production lines and an R&D center in Shenzhen this past weekend.

With a total investment of CNY2.9 billion, Huawei will set up the world's largest data processing center and 3G R&D center in Nanjing.

Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) says it will invest US$280 million to building a research and development center in Beijing.

Chinese financial publisher Finet Group says it sees big hopes in the Chinese online gaming sector and has now launched its own foray into that sector.

Ma Weiying, principal researcher and research area manager for Microsoft (MSFT) Research Asia in Beijing, says that Microsoft has arranged a large team for the development of search engines in China and expects to make some achievements in the field in the coming years.