The report said the move is part of Motorola's plans to consolidate its North Asian headquarters in Wanjing, Beijing suburb. The research center would be just one part of a 25-acre campus now under construction.

"We plan to undertake this project in three phases," Daniel Shih, president of Motorola China, was quoted as saying. "The total investment of the entire campus has not been decided."

Motorola has invested billions of dollars in China, a market expected to account for 15 percent of its global revenue this year, up from 10 percent in 2003, Shih said.

Motorola's reported move comes on the heels of rival Lucent announcing earlier this week it would spend another $70 million on its research and development center in the eastern city of Nanjing.