Baidu Inc said on Monday it broke ground on a new building in the southern city of Shenzhen that would hold its mobile Internet research and development offices and south China and international headquarters.

Mobile Internet and internationalization are the future important expansion drives for Baidu, Robin Li, Baidu's chief executive, said in a statement.

Last year, Baidu launched its Yi mobile operating platform and partnered with Dell to offer a smartphone based on the system.

The building will be completed by 2015.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

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