The decision to open this R&D site in France was prompted by the fertile IT ecosystem of the Sophia Antipolis hub, the company states in a press release. In late 2013, Huawei CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei announced plans to recruit 170 researchers in France by 2017. Huawei has – to date – hired 20 engineers for the new Sophia Antipolis site, most of whom are former researchers of Texas Instruments. The company plans to hire another 10 engineers to reach a staff of 30 by the end of the year. “We are very proud of this R&D site, which represents perfectly what France can provide in terms of skills on the global IT market,” said Mr Song Kai, CEO of Huawei France. “This inauguration is a symbolic step for Huawei in France, a sign of its increasing collaboration with the French digital ecosystem. Huawei has great ambitions for the coming months and Sophia Antipolis is only the first step in its French R&D development strategy.” Huawei will integrate a chipset developed by its engineers in Sophia Antipolis in its terminals by 2015.