Software colossus Microsoft Corp has announced it will invest $750 million in China over the next three years, describing it as the largest software deal China has ever made with a foreign firm.
The investment - signed at a ceremony in Beijing today attended by Microsoft chief executive Mr Steve Ballmer - will cover areas including training, academic and research cooperation and hardware manufacturing, a Microsoft statement said.
The deal is being made with China's State Development Planning Commission (SDPC), whose minister, Mr Zeng Peiyan, will chair a cooperation committee alongside Microsoft chairman Mr Bill Gates.
Microsoft will also license certain technology to local Chinese companies to have them develop software products, the statement said.
The company and the SDPC were "working together to build a dynamic Chinese software industry which will be an active contributor to the global technology market," it said.
Mr Zeng also praised the deal, saying: "Advancing industrialisation through information technology is the basic strategy for China to maintain high, sustainable and healthy economic development."
The agreement would help by "bringing to China internationally advanced technology and management expertise", he said.
Microsoft announced last month it is planning to manufacture its Xbox game console in southern China through partner Flextronics Corp.
AFP