Microsoft will invest $280 million to establish a Research and Development(R&D) Building in Zhongguancun, Beijing, and double the staff within three to five years to reach 3,000 the company said today.

The new building will become the company's largest Research and development park outside the United States.

Here will become Microsoft's largest overseas research and development park. And Microsoft China R & D Group is the company's research and development institutions with the large scale and the most comprehensive functions, Zhang Yaqin, president of Microsoft China Tuesday said in Beijing.

At present, there are 1,500 full-time employees and 1,500 project-based staff in Microsoft's China R&D Group. The R&D center building will be completed in 2010.

The establishment of R&D center building illustrates the software company's growing commitment to China. Microsoft in 2006 agreed to invest 31 million US dollars in China to create R&D laboratories to train engineers and software professionals.

Microsoft also set up a research and development joint venture last year with the Lenovo Group. This is Microsoft's first collaborative R&D Center, Lenovo can use the software provided by the Microsoft to develop new products and technologies, while Microsoft will enter into the Chinese market through the cooperation.

China is the world's second-largest PC market and has the largest number of Internet users, almost all global technology companies wish to take advantage of the ever-growing huge human resources of the country.

Lenovo Microsoft China