New | China’s JD.com expands operations to Silicon Valley

JD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce services provider by sales, has expanded its operations in the United States, with the opening on Monday of a research and development facility in Santa Clara, California — right in the centre of Silicon Valley.

“Given the scope and strength of American brands, products and capabilities, the US was the obvious choice as we sought a location for our first office outside of Asia,” said Richard Liu Qiangdong, the founder and chief executive of JD.

The move followed JD’s unveiling last month of a new office in Hong Kong that was set up to help the Beijing-based company better engage with major brands and retailers across Asia.

Dennis Weng, the chief technical advisor for JD Mall, has been tasked to initially oversee the new US facility, which will focus on areas such as cloud computing, mobile applications and big-data infrastructure to improve the online retail experience for its customers in mainland China and boost the company’s US-sourced offerings.

JD’s research and development operation is also expected to provide both rotational job possibilities for engineers in China and opportunities for certain skilled technical workers in Silicon Valley.

“Our nearly 120 million active customers stay loyal because they know we work continuously to improve their shopping and fulfillment experience by implementing the most advanced technologies and processes,” said Rain Long, JD’s chief human resources officer and general counsel.

Nasdaq-listed JD launched a “US Mall” marketplace on its website, dedicated exclusively to meeting the demand on the mainland for authentic imported American products.