U.S. software giant Microsoft is planning to pour 3.7 billion U.S. dollars into China over the next five years, the China Daily reported on Thursday.

Under a deal signed with China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Microsoft has vowed to increase its investment and commitment which it says will aid the development of the Chinese software sector.

Microsoft will place a 700-million-U.S.-dollar hardware export order with Chinese companies in each of the next five years, according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the NDRC.

According to the MOU, the U.S. firm will also invest 100 million U.S. dollars during the same period to collaborate with Chinese software firms or their offshore subsidiaries. This will be done in the form of setting up joint ventures or cooperation, a move the software company says is designed to help the growth of Chinese software firms.

In addition, Microsoft will, in the same timeframe, place a 100-million-U.S.-dollar order with Chinese software companies for software technical support, development and testing services.

The software giant is also planning to train 10,000 software professionals for China in the next five years, and set up an "NDRC-Microsoft Software Innovation Centre", in a bid to help China sharpen its software industry's competitive edge.

The MOU, signed on April 18, is the second of its kind the software giant has signed with the Chinese Government.

The first such MOU was in 2002 with the then State Planning Commission, under which the software firm committed itself to investing 6.2 billion yuan (775 million US dollars) in various co-operative projects.

Source: Xinhua