Ericsson is planning to invest approximately SEK 7 billion ($1.06 billion) in the next 5 years to build three global ICT centers.
Two global ICT centers will come up in Sweden — Stockholm and Linköping — while the third one will be in Canada in North America.
The new centers will house the company’s complete portfolio, enabling the R&D organization to develop and verify solutions, creating the foundation for the next generation technology and cloud-based services.
Ericsson has its biggest R&D hub located in Sweden with more than 9,000 employees. Other bigger R&D sites are in China, US, Canada and Hungary. In 2012, Ericsson’s R&D expenditures were SEK 32.8 billion, reflecting around 14 percent of sales.
Ericsson on Monday said two ICT centers in Sweden will start operations from end of 2013 and from end of 2014 respectively and the North American ICT Center from early 2015.
The three ICT Centers combined will be up to 120,000 square meters, approximately the size of 14 football fields.
“Great ideas come from collaboration, and at these centers we will push the boundaries of possibility on next generation technology and services,” said Hans Vestberg, president and CEO, Ericsson.
