US technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) plans to recruit more than 1,000 workers on the Chinese mainland by the end of this year.

The recruitment will increase HP China's headcount by approximately 20 per cent. Currently, HP has more than 5,000 employees on the Chinese mainland.

Experts say the aggressive move confirms China is increasingly becoming a source of talent for multinationals, instead of merely a manufacturing centre and a market.

Cheng-Yaw Sun, president of HP China, said the firm will start recruitment campaigns this month to fill various posts, such as sales managers, technical consultants and software engineers.

Research and development (R&D) staff will account for 24 per cent of the 1,078 vacant posts.

And engineers, who will work for a global BPO (business process offshore) centre in Dalian, Liaoning Province, will account for 28 per cent of the new jobs.

The recruitment is the largest ever of its kind in the history of HP China since it first entered the country in 1985 as the first Sino-US high-tech joint venture, said Sun.

The hunger for more local talent is a result of rapid growth in China, he added.
HP's business on the Chinese mainland grew by 25 per cent in 2005.

"We expect to maintain rapid growth this year, which will require substantial support from more local talent," Sun said.

"China has become the most important strategic market and talent pool for HP globally."

HP last year announced a plan to axe 14,500 jobs globally as part of a restructuring programme designed to save US$1.9 billion annually and improve performance.

The aggressive recruitment on the Chinese mainland highlights the increasing importance of China for HP, one of the world's top information technology (IT) companies.

David Chang, president of Philips China, said multinationals initially focused on investing in manufacturing facilities when they first arrived on the Chinese mainland.

"Now they are shifting the focus to the R&D activities and, most recently, are hunting for local talent," he said.

In recent years, many multinationals have transferred R&D activities to China from their home countries, and have trained and recruited a large number of local engineers.

Some are even looking to set up in the less-affluent western China for even more cost-effective R&D activities.

Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB), the flagship company of French communications giant Alcatel in China, on Wednesday launched a global R&D centre in Chengdu, capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The centre has already recruited 300 R&D engineers.

"We are transferring a lot of competence and (R&D-related) workload to China from Europe and, especially, the United States," said Gerard Dega, president of ASB.

Alcatel will continue to invest aggressively in R&D activities in China to tap the "excellent talent pool" in the country, he added.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)