Chinese phone-equipment maker ZTE Corp. has reportedly decided to invest 2 billion Yuan, or around 314 million dollars, in a facility to support China Unicom's e-book service.

According to a Bloomberg report, ZTE Vice President Yu Yifang said in an email that the company would expand its Internet center in Changsha to support China Unicom’s WoReading service that was started in April.

The number of workers at the ZTE’s Changsha-based internet center will be increased from 300 now to more than 1,000 workers over the next three years.

China Unicom, one of the ZTE’s earliest computing services customers, asked the Chinese company in November last year to establish an online store for its mobile applications called the WoStore.

ZTE is making efforts to move away from its core business of selling networking gear to other computing services. Chairman Hou Weigui said cloud computing would account for nearly one-third of the company’s total sales within the next three-five years.

Shares in ZTE slipped 1.5 per cent to HK$22.90 at 10 a. m. in the Hong Kong trading, stock in China Unicom shed 1.6 per cent to HK$16.52.