Huawei expects upsurge in job creation in Europe as it targets enterprise segment

Huawei has pledged to diversify its service portfolio in Europe and is looking to hire around 5,500 additional staff in the region. It employs around 7,500 staff in Europe currently. The expansion comes as the company admits that it still faces problems gaining access to the US market.

The company has just opened an exhibition centre in the Netherlands to promote its services in Europe.

Patrick Zhang, president of marketing and solutions, Huawei Enterprise Business Group said that providing IT solutions to European enterprises is a new growth engine for the company in Europe. Huawei entered this business in 2011 and the turnover in the division is expected to reach US$1 billion in the next three to five years.

"Apart from research and development input, localisation is our key to success," Zhang said. The job creation being outlined is scaled to take place over the next five years.

The company still faces hurdles within Europe, but less on grounds of security than due to suspicions that the company receives state aid, particularly in the form of generous loans from state-controlled banks. These could spark import tariffs being applied to goods sold in Europe, although European vendors are more wary, fearing a backlash from the more lucrative Chinese market.