Beijing – Digital pay TV technology solutions provider NDS announced it plans to triple its investment in China with new hires, new facilities and other local infrastructure. Earlier this year, the company announced that it had increased its headcount in China by 73% over the previous 12 months, in what it said was a response to strong local demand for its products and services. The company said its staff numbers in China will increase further this year, both via local hires and via the relocation of a number of its existing R&D resources from India and Israel. NDS said it has identified a key growth opportunity through partnerships with Chinese companies in the consumer electronics space, semiconductors, systems integration, and digital-TV applications markets. For example, NDS said it has already partnered with consumer electronics and set-top box manufacturer, Changhong, to develop a range of interactive applications for the Chinese market, targeted at convergence and the Chinese government’s Next Generation Broadband (NGB) initiative. It plans to market these applications to other regions as part what it describes as a drive to increase export opportunities for Chinese CE and STB manufacturers. In addition, it says that it is partnering with value-added TV service provider, DOXTV, to bring DVR and push-VOD functionality to China. Just over a year ago, NDS opened an R&D, engineering and customer support facility in Shenzhen. With this new investment, NDS will increase employee numbers at the R&D facility as well as increasing its presence in locations that are close to customers, including in Beijing and Shanghai. “We believe that Chinese digital-TV technology will have a major impact on the global pay-TV market, as other countries start to seek out Chinese knowledge, experience and products. We already have significant resources in China, and accelerating our investment now and in the future allows us to rapidly increase our support for the dynamic and growing Chinese digital-TV market,” said Sue Taylor, chairman of NDS China and senior vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific.