McAfee Wednesday announced deals with several new Chinese partners and the establishment of a new R&D center, part of an effort to step up its business in the fast-growing Chinese market.“China is a very significant market for us, and the reasons for that are kind of obvious,” said Lawrence Wee, McAfee’s president of Asia-Pacific, speaking at a press conference in Beijing. The country’s expanding Internet market and the widespread adoption of mobile devices make China an important market, he said.To tap China’s scale and rapid growth, McAfee has teamed up with Baidu.com, China’s top search engine, and China United Telecommunications (China Unicom), the country’s second-largest mobile operator. Baidu will offer McAfee’s antivirus software through a newly established online store, while China Unicom will offer McAfee antivirus protection on a subscription basis to users of its Lucky Mailbox mobile e-mail service, McAfee said.These relationships, and others like them, are a critical part of McAfee’s business in China, Wee said. “We will only do business in China through our partners,” he said, adding that the company would not sell to companies or consumers directly. Looking ahead, Wee sees demand for security software growing in China. “We see increasing demand from Chinese organizations, from business organizations and the government, who want to have a more secure environment,” he said.McAfee also announced the establishment of a new R&D center in the southern city of Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong. The new center, which will develop security products for mobile devices, currently houses a staff of 11, said George Samenuk, McAfee’s chairman and chief executive officer. The number of employees will eventually increase to 30, he said.-Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Who’s paying your data integration tax? Reducing your data integration tax will get you one step closer to value—let’s start today. By Sandrine Ghosh Jun 05, 2023 4 mins Data Management feature 13 essential skills for accelerating digital transformation IT leaders too often find themselves behind on business-critical transformation efforts due to gaps in the technical, leadership, and business skills necessary to execute and drive change. By Stephanie Overby Jun 05, 2023 12 mins Digital Transformation IT Skills tip 3 things CIOs must do now to accurately hit net-zero targets More than a third of the world’s largest companies are making their net-zero targets public, yet nearly all will fail to hit them if they don’t double the pace of emissions reduction by 2030. This puts leading executives, CIOs in particul By Diana Bersohn and Mauricio Bermudez-Neubauer Jun 05, 2023 5 mins CIO Accenture Emerging Technology case study Merck Life Sciences banks on RPA to streamline regulatory compliance Automated bots assisted in compliance, thereby enabling the company to increase revenue and save precious human hours, freeing up staff for higher-level tasks. By Yashvendra Singh Jun 05, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation Robotic Process Automation Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe