China- "the cornerstone" for Siemens AG

China is increasingly important for Siemens, not only for production and procurement but also for research and development. Operations for Siemens in China are showing significant growth. Siemens operations in China posted year-on-year growth of 28 per cent from 2003 to 2004. Siemens China announced it's ambitions of double it's sales within a few years. The company, according to Richard Hausmann, president and CEO of Siemens China Ltd., aims to cover a wider area of the country by establishing/acquiring new plants and by hiring more sales people. The northeastern and western parts of the country in particular. "One of my goals is to bring one of our global business units to China in a few years," said Hausmann. The release of the third generation mobile communications licences in China is coming closer and Siemens is hopeful to be the first to provide the new services. "We believe we will be one of the first providers of WCDMA systems in China," said Hausmann.