ZTE

ZTE Corporation

ZTE corporate campus in Shenzhen, Guangdong
Native name	中兴通讯股份有限公司
Formerly called	Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation
Type	Public
Traded as	: 000063 : 0763
Industry	Telecommunications equipment Networking equipment
Founded	1985; 32 years ago (1985)
Founder	Hóu Wéiguì (侯为贵)
Headquarters	Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Hóu Wéiguì (Chairman) Shǐ Lìróng (史立荣) (President)
Products	Mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers, hardware, software and services to telecommunications service providers and enterprises
Revenue	CN¥81.471 billion (2014)
Operating income	CN¥3.538 billion (2014)
Net income	CN¥2.634 billion (2014)
Total assets	CN¥106.214 billion (2014)
Owner	ZTE Holdings (30.57%)
Number of employees	69,093 (2014)
Website	www.zte.com.cn www.ztedevice.com

ZTE Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

ZTE operates in three business units: carrier networks (54%), terminals (29%) and telecommunication (17%). ZTE's core products are wireless, exchange, access, optical transmission, and data telecommunications gear; mobile phones; and telecommunications software. It also offers products that provide value-added services, such as video on demand and streaming media. ZTE primarily sells products under its own name but it is also an OEM.

ZTE is one of the top five largest smartphone manufacturers in its home market.

ZTE, initially founded as Zhongxing Semiconductor Co., Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 1985, was incorporated by a group of investors associated with China's Ministry of Aerospace. In March 1993, Zhongxing Semiconductor has changed its name to Zhongxing New Telecommunications Equipment Co., Ltd with capital of RMB 3 million, and created a new business model as a "state-owned and private-operating" economic entity. Ties to the state notwithstanding, the corporation has evolved into ZTE Corporation of being publicly traded having made an initial public offering (IPO) on the in 1997 and another on the in December, 2004.

While the company initially profited from domestic sales, it vowed to use money from its 2004 Hong Kong IPO to further expand R&D, overseas sales to developed nations, and overseas production. Making headway in the international telecom market in 2006, it took 40% of new global orders for CDMA networks topping the world CDMA equipment market by number of shipments. That same year also saw ZTE find a customer in the Canadian Telus and membership in the Wi-Fi Alliance. More customers in developed nations soon followed Telus' lead, and in 2007 ZTE had sold to UK's Vodafone, Spain's Telefonica, and the Australian Telstra, as well as garnering the greatest number of CDMA contracts globally. By 2008 ZTE could claim its customer base was truly global, as it had made sales in 140 countries.