Motorola (MOT) has announced three new investments in China.
Through Motorola Ventures, the venture capital arm of Motorola, the company has invested in Shanghai NewMargin Venture Capital Enterprise, Shenzhen Shenxun Information Technology Development Co. Ltd. (SXIT) and Legend Silicon Corporation, parent company of Legend Silicon Beijing (Legend Silicon).
"China is of continuing strategic importance to Motorola. Besides shoring up strength in mobile devices and network infrastructure, Motorola is branching out to new businesses that can help provide seamless mobility solutions to our customers in China," said Warren Holtsberg, corporate vice president, Equity Investing, Motorola.
Motorola has become one of the largest investors of Shanghai NewMargin Venture Capital Enterprise, originally established with a US$35-million private equity fund. The VC company will continue to focus on high-tech companies, high-growth or high-potential companies in China.
Motorola has also formed strategic cooperation with SXIT while making a significant investment in its parent company — China Internet Technology and Service Ltd. Besides, Motorola will cooperate with SXIT on both platform and applications such as LBS and enterprise solutions.
Through this cooperation, Motorola expects to increase its ability to provide customers with unique and customized services, including enterprise solutions, A-GPS, LBS, MMS, 3G applications, content, and client applications.
The alliance between Motorola and Legend Silicon focuses on the design, development, and manufacturing of demodulator chips for the emerging mobile TV businesses. With mobile TV being seen as the 'Next Big Thing' in the 3G era, this investment is expected to help Motorola gain a strong foothold in the mobile TV industry in China, which is widely expected to be one of the leading players in the 3G market.
Motorola is the largest foreign investor in China's electronics industry with more than 9,000 employees in China. Since coming to China in 1987, Motorola has made its commitment to China a long-term strategy. By the end of 2005, Motorola's total investment in this country reached US$3.6 billion. Motorola's commitment to China continues to increase, showcased in part, by its venture investment program. These investments are expected to bring much- needed funding, technology and management know-how to local Chinese entrepreneurs.
Ruey Bin Kao, president of Motorola China, says, "It is deeply rooted in our corporate culture that Motorola strives to become an active part of China's growing economy. These and future investments from Motorola Ventures in China help to form the bond. We believe that collaboration with our local partners will make Motorola's vision of Seamless Mobility become reality in China."
