HP, Huawei eye own facilities

Bangalore Calling
HP, Huawei eye own facilities

The Times of India

Bangalore: Two major land deals for corporate campuses are said to have recently been finalised. Sources say Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Huawei Technologies have tied up land in Bangalore for setting up their own independent campuses.

HP India is said to have entered into an agreement with the Prestige group to build a campus in an area of about 22 acres close to the Intel campus on the outer ring road. HP’s operations in Bangalore are currently spread over some six facilities, occupying about 3.5 lakh sq ft of leased space. The company has for some time been looking at consolidating these operations in a single location.

When contacted, Swaroop Anish, vice president (business development) in the Prestige group, declined to say anything on the matter.
The cost of land in that part of the outer ring road is about Rs 6 crore an acre. At this rate, it should cost HP about Rs 132 crore for the land alone.

On Huawei Technologies, sources say the Chinese company has picked up 15 acres of land in Whitefield belonging to D.K. Adikeshavulu, who owns several distilleries in Karnataka. Equis property consultants is understood to have facilitated the deal. Huawei corporate affairs head Gilbert, however, said Huawei was yet to finalise a deal. “We are doing a detailed due diligence of some land,” he said.

Huawei currently has 750 employees and occupies 1 lakh sq ft of space in Leela Palace’s commercial complex. The company’s plan is to grow to 2,000 employees by 2006. “We want to build about 6 lakh sq ft of space. Buying land and having our own campus is also our way of showing our commitment to India,” Gilbert said.

A growing number of global technology companies are investing in their own campuses in Bangalore.