HP investing $112.5 million in Taiwan R&D centre

For computers and mobile devices

HP MIGHT BE a US company at heart, but it seems like the company has decided to invest a fairly sizable chunk of cash in a new R&D centre in Taiwan to the tune of $112.5 million. The money will be spread out over a three year investment for what will be known as the “Computing Hub” which will focus on R&D for computers and mobile devices.

More specifically the new R&D facility will, according to the Taipei Times, be developing HP’s Slate and other multi-touch applications as well as 3D visual technologies for mobile products and cloud computing solutions. Exactly what kind of products will come out of the R&D centre is anyone’s guess at this point in time, but according to HP’s procurement head in Taiwan, Kai Hsiao, PC, handset, and server products will be the key foci.

Interestingly the new R&D facility doesn’t appear to be only doing product R&D as it will also be heavily innovation focused, an area that doesn’t always yield new products. It will also focus on high-end products and work with the local academia in Taiwan to develop new products and ideas. HP will be developing infrastructure for and share know-how with its Taiwanese partners through the R&D facility.

As far as we know, the new facility will be located in the Nangang software park which is a recently purpose built high-tech facility that houses several technology companies. Some of the latest additions were only finished earlier this year and are located right next door to the new exhibition centre where part of Computex is hosted. A second exhibition centre is also about to be constructed across the road from the current facility alongside several additional office buildings.

In related news, Taipei Times are also reporting that Super Micro is getting ready to invest $100 million in a new APAC operation centre in Taiwan which is said to be saving the company significant cost compared to its current site in Silicon Valley. The new operations centre is said to be employing as many as 4,000 members of staff to handle R&D, manufacturing and logistics. The facility will be located near Taipei airport which is located in Taoyuan County just southwest of Taipei.S|A

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