Chinese Huawei recently announced its plan to build its first European plant in France with an aim to support several European countries with their 5G rollout plans, the China Daily reported on February 28. In the first phase, the company will spend 200 million euros (US$224.7 million; US$1=0.89 euro) on setting up a new mobile base station platform to manufacture 4G and 5G equipment and better serve its European customers. In addition, France is to follow Britain’s footsteps to grant Huawei a limited role in the country’s 5G network, Reuters reported on March 13. With the location yet to be disclosed, this new plant is expected to generate 1 billion euros (US$1.12 million) worth of products annually and create 500 jobs locally.
The global smartphone market volume is estimated to reach 1.36 billion units in 2020 and grow to 1.51 billion units by 2024, with a 2.3% CAGR over the forecast period 2020-2024, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), which is a subsidiary of III (Institute for Information Industry), a government think tank, and IT research institute in Taiwan.