Ericsson is increasing 5G and AI investments to speed U.S. rollouts

Fresh off winning a major 5G hardware supply contract with Verizon, Ericsson announced today that it is increasing its investments in the United States to speed deployments of 5G, AI, and automation technologies in North America. Under the plan, Ericsson says that it will hire more U.S. personnel for its R&D and manufacturing initiatives, as well as shortening timelines between new products' introduction and delivery to customers. "The United States is our largest market," explained Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm, "accounting for a quarter of Ericsson's business over the last seven years. To serve the demand of these fast-moving service providers, we are strengthening our investment in the U.S. to be even closer to our customers and meet their accelerated 5G deployment plans." On the R&D side, Ericsson says it will expand the work of a recently opened 5G chip design center in Austin, Texas, as well as opening a new baseband software development center this year, collectively supporting nearly 300 employees.