John Thompson, chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of the U.S.-based Symantec Corporation, has announced the establishment of Symantec China R&D Center Chengdu and the establishment of Symantec China Safety Response Center.

Located on the extension line south of downtown Chengdu, Symantec China R&D Center Chengdu occupies more than 40,000 square meters and consists of four buildings. The center is expected to have over 1000 employees by 2009, most of whom will be employed from the local market.

As the largest investment project of a transnational software company in Chengdu, Symantec China R&D Center Chengdu involves up to US$50 million in total investment. Thompson expects it to be the largest R&D center for Symantec in the global market. He says that by establishing Symantec China Safety Response Center in Chengdu, it is helpful for them to advance their user services, which is a major difference between the company's R&D center in Beijing which mainly focuses on safety storage.

The establishment of Symantec China R&D Center Chengdu and Symantec China Safety Response Center is part of Symantec's investment in Chengdu. The company is said to have signed an agreement with Chinese network equipment provider Huawei on setting up a joint venture company in which it will hold 49% of the stake. Huawei will be responsible for providing technology permission to the JV and Symantec storage and safety software permission plus US$150 million investment.

Symantec China R&D Center Chengdu is the second R&D center that Symantec has been set up in China since its entry into the country ten years ago. The first Symantec R&D center was established in Beijing in 2004.