Recruiting in China

SHANGHAI, China — Microsoft is planning to boost its R&D division in China by hiring 500 new engineers.

The recruits will join a team that has doubled in the last year to about 1,200. Within three to five years, Microsoft plans to increase its staff to 3,000 workers and invest $100 million in an effort to make China one of its core R&D bases.

The expanded staff will focus on mobile communications and embedded systems, Internet applications and services, digital entertainment and servers. Everything from basic research to product development will be conducted here in cooperation with local companies.

Yaqing Zhang, president of Microsoft's R&D group in China acknowledged that many Chinese engineers are still inexperienced, especially in managerial ability. Hence, half of the new recruits will come from overseas or from within the electronics industry, instead of from China's growing pool of job-seeking graduates.