We reported in early November that Premier Kathleen Wynne went to China to 'shop' for new businesses. It looks like her efforts with telecom giant Huawei may be soon paying off, if the posting for a Research Director's job in Kitchener, Ontario, is any indication. Huawei already has a R&D presence in Ottawa and a sales and marketing office in Markham, as well as offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal. Premier Wynne had been promoting Ontario across China and she said at the time that she was pleased that Huawei is interested in expanding into Ontario. They announced plans to invest $500 million to expand Research and Development (R&D) and add 325 new jobs over the new five years.

For the past week, Huawei has been posting jobs online, although they have been advertising since October 2014. Some of the jobs are security related – Software Security Engineer and Security Researcher – and Huawei is most likely trying to hire up former BlackBerry engineers right on their home turf. According to our source, Scott Totke, a former BlackBerry Security VP, will run the new office. This comes as no surprise as BlackBerry is known for its security and there are many displaced workers looking for a job…it makes perfect sense for Huawei to settle there.


Our source, Mobile Syrup, had an interview with Scott Bradley, Huawei Canada's VP of Corporate Affairs, and he told them, "at this point there has been no formal decisions made in regards to an office or what exactly that structure would look like in the K-W region. Basically, the process right now is exploratory and seeing what opportunities are out there for us."

Although 5 – 7 years away, the next big step in internet speed is 5G and both Premier Wynne and Huawei's Yang are hoping to cash in on the technology in Canada. Speaking about Ontario, Yang said it, "has established itself as one of the global leaders in advanced communications technology, including 5G. The success of this facility has reinforced to Huawei the value of Ontario's talented workforce, and network of universities in Ontario and across Canada, that can support innovative research. We didn't think we could build the leadership of 5G in Canada, but it happened. We have a perfect team. The ecosystem is very important." Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you are happy about Huawei moving into Canada…as always, we would love to hear from you.