Beijing - Microsoft says it will hire more than 1,000 additional employees in China this year and boost research and development spending by 15 percent in an effort to expand its share of the country's fast-growing mobile Internet and cloud computing market.
Microsoft's CEO for China, Ralph Haupter, said on Thursday the company is recruiting local partners to create mobile applications for China.
The announcement adds to intensifying competition in mobile Internet and cloud computing in China, where nearly 400 million people go online using mobile phones and other wireless devices.
Haupter said Microsoft is stepping up efforts to expand use of its Windows 8 operating system for mobile phones. In China, the company trails Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc., whose Android operating system is widely used. - Sapa-AP