SAP announced on Tuesday it will spend more than US$2 billion over the next four years to expand its business in China, with plans to almost double the number of employees it has in the nation.
The US$2 billion represents an entirely new investment from SAP aimed at increasing the company’s presence in a key market, according to company spokeswoman Lynn Ong. SAP currently has 2,600 employees in China, with offices and labs in Beijing, Shanghai and other smaller cities.
Through the new investment, SAP will hire an additional 2,000 employees through 2015. The company will also open five to six new offices in China.
SAP did not provide a breakdown of its $2 billion investment, but said the money will also go toward research for new products, and improving services for its customers in China, and across the globe.
In August, SAP said it was offering its high-end MaxAttention support service in China to meet the growing demand for its ERP software. In the same month, SAP said its executive vice president Uwe Hommei also relocated to China to begin working from the company’s Beijing headquarters.
SAP doesn’t break out revenue for China, but in the third quarter reported revenue of