Inspur starting IT push in US

Inspur, an information technology company headquartered in Jinan, Shandong province, anticipates a surge in its US business in 2018.

"We are looking for 30 to 40 percent growth minimum in Seattle. When we grow here, we also grow the team in China, as our delivery team is in China. Like when we get projects here, we have people work here, we also have people work in China," said Ada Grant, vice-president of Inspur USA and VP of Inspur Worldwide Services.

Inspur has about 150 employees in Greater Seattle focused on software and IT. In Silicon Valley, the company has another team of more than 60 focusing on manufacturing and hardware R&D.

Inspur said the expansion will be not just in IT services, but also in hardware as well.

In 2005, when Inspur became one of three global strategic partners of US software giant Microsoft, the latter invested $25 million in Inspur International.

Inspur since has provided solutions in the US and helped Microsoft build offsite facilities in China. For better communications and ease of business with Microsoft, Inspur set up the Seattle office.

Three years ago, Inspur built the factory in California and created an R&D team focusing on producing and assembling servers for North American and South American clients.

Grant joined the company because "the company does have a different strategy that I believe it will give me a bigger platform".

She mentioned that the US team is managed in more of a Western style, which she said provided more latitude, ease of communication and team-building.

Now the company has more than 27,000 employees worldwide and is involved in over 20 vertical industries. In the past, servers dominated Inspur's business, but a month ago, Inspur released a new strategy to expand its cloud-computing products and services.

IDC recently released two reports that highlight Inspur's artificial-intelligence (AI) capabilities in products, solutions and technology innovation.

"The role of our US office is kind of like a vanguard for new technology and a bridge to link China to the outside-China market," Grant said.