By Bharat Upadhyay

Shenzhen, Dec 10 (IANS): With OPPO planning to invest $7 billion in research and development globally in the next three years, the Chinese smartphone maker is set to open its second R&D centre in India, a top company executive said here on Tuesday.

The company currently has one R&D centre in Hyderabad and the second centre may come up in Bengaluru.

"India is important to us. We are looking to open another R&D centre in India. We may open it in Bengaluru," Alen Wu, OPPO's Vice President and President of Global Sales, told reporters.

"In terms of revenue, we are doing good in India. So far, in 2019, we have witnessed a growth of over 60 per cent in India and the number will go up by the year end. I'm happy with the performance," Wu told IANS on the sidelines of the company's "INNO DAY 2019" event.

OPPO Founder and CEO Tony Chen announced at the event that the company would invest $7 billion in research and development in the next three years to develop core technologies in hardware, software and system in addition to 5G/6G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), Big Data and other emerging technologies.

Wu added that country like India is always significant to the company.

"Lots of work are yet to be done. We're closely monitoring India as we are enhancing our services in the country," Wu added.

In the India smartphone market, OPPO has a share of 11.8 per cent in Q3, as per market research firm IDC.

Earlier, OPPO announced the opening of the electronic manufacturing cluster in the Greater Noida region with an investment of Rs 3,500 crore that will have the capability to produce approximately two lakh product units daily.

"OPPO has been more than just a phone maker from the outset. In fact, smartphones have simply been a gateway for the company to deliver a diverse portfolio of technological services," Chen said.

"For OPPO and even the entire industry, there won't be any company solely focusing on smartphones," he added.