Chinese Internet search engine provider Baidu plans to establish an R&D center in Shanghai within 2007. After the Shanghai center, a similar facility based in Tokyo is on the way, too.

Baidu has begun recruiting R&D personnel for the Shanghai center by posting the recruitment notice on its own website, Sina News reported, citing an anonymous source. The move is seen as an endeavor to secure Baidu's presence in China following the inauguration of a new R&D center in Shanghai by its primary rival Google in early 2007.

According to the same Sina report, Baidu also plans to set up a new R&D center in Tokyo following the establishment of the Shanghai center. On March 2007, Baidu rolled out the Japanese-language version of its search engine and announced a planned investment of US$15 million in Japan.