India to host Sony Ericsson R&D lab

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB announced it will open a new R&D unit for mobile phones in India.

The Chennai facility southeast of the country adds to the company's growing network of R&D centers, which currently comprise sites in China, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the U.S. and the U.K.

The establishment of the new facility follows the mobile company's earlier announcement that it will source electronic manufacturing services partners Flextronics International Ltd and Foxconn to make phones in Chennai. The Swedish firm said it has set a production target of 10 million units by 2009.

Anders Grynge, previously based at the Sony Ericsson R&D center in Lund, is expected to take the helm of the Chennai product development facility.

"Over the past few years, Sony Ericsson has witnessed very encouraging growth in the Indian market, more than doubling its market share and becoming amongst the top three GSM handset manufacturers," said Sudhin Mathur, general manager at Sony Ericsson India. "With a product development site in Chennai, as well as local manufacturing, Sony Ericsson is poised to further consolidate its growing momentum in the Indian market."